And thus, The RAAF and its allies fought there
by Medical Idiot
Summary: It has been a year since Georgious Akhanteros surrendered to NATO/FIA forces. Under new leadership Altis is gaining its footing once more, but with the arrival of the GATE in the middle of Kavala how will this affect the reformed republic of Altis and Stratis? The two worlds shall soon know the fury of Altis.
1. Chapter 1, Info dump

The year is 2030, Europe and by extension NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization.) is weakening as Europe and the EU fall into a economic depression, although rumored but not outright declared most likely caused by CSAT, or more formerly known as the Canton-Protocol Strategic Alliance Treaty, A Asian and Middle eastern alliance formed originally between China and Iran, acting as a counter to NATO and its western backed allies who have been recently taking a more aggressive stance towards Western nations.

CSAT is winning in its war for both economics and military 'aid' throughout the globe, but in 2030 on the Mediterranean island nation of Altis and Stratis things have changed. CSAT backed AAF (Altis Armed Forces.) forces were decimated by the hands of a joint NATO/FIA (Freedom Independence Army.) attack which saw the withdraw of CSAT forces on the island and the complete military surrender of the AAF, handed down by Georgious Akhntero, head of the sham that was the 'Republic of Altis and Stratis'.

The former defense minister Nikos Panagopoulos, and former leading member of the Altian FIA oversaw the war tribunals for the majority of the former AAF command and several of its divisions for war crimes committed under the former AAF regime. With his help and NATO backing the country was able to quickly reestablish itself and not fall into a total collapse as the former Democratic government was once more reinstated.

Under his guidance the 'Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis' was made as to restore order within the nation, with help of both NATO and IDAP in the course of a year since the stand down of the AAF many areas of the country, albeit slowly, have been making progress in restoring life back to a pre-war standard as burnt out wreaks and mine fields are being cleared away.

Although there has been talk within the United States about pulling the majority of its forces out of its overseas bases, with the victory on Altis and the reports of CSAT 'peace keepers' assisting AAF forces in attacking and in some cases slaughtering NATO forces in the region renewed debates have sparked on the matter of international safety. FBI investigations into matters involving certain American senators voicing opinions to withdraw from oversea bases have been discovered to have economic backings from Eastern Asia, namely multiple business fronts known to have ties with CSAT. Investigations are underway as to undermined CSAT influence in the American Government.

As of now, US forces are to remain in Europe and the Mediterranean in addition to peace keeping operations within the pacific. With the approval of US Naval command and the new Altian government, the former US naval base on Malden has been retrofitted for new generation naval vessels. American and NATO presence in the Mediterranean has exponentially increased upon a new wave of investigations into CSAT backed peace keeping operations through out the globe.

Although running for office of the presidency, Nikos Panagopoulos is considered the de-facto leader of the reformed Altian government. With the threat of a complete CSAT take over of Altis subsiding, and feeling that a major victory had been secured both NATO and Altis are resting easy for the time being.

As history has shown, with peace being merely a prelude to war. Located on a far off world, the entertainment of the God of the underworld, Hardy, is dwindling. And such as it were in the past wants something 'unique' and new in 'her' world. Conveniently just as the Empire is wishing for new lands to conquer and to spread their influence on those they deem 'lesser' than themselves.

The drums of war are once more beating, unknown to NATO or the RAAF (Reformed Altian Armed Forces.), for the eyes of the world, both worlds, shall be drawn to the Mediterranean island nation once more.

"Έτσι, η RAAF πολέμησε εκεί. - And thus, the RAAF fought there."


	2. Chapter 2, Mediterranean winds

**Date, August, 2035.**

**Location: Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis former Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**Aegean Sea, off the coast of Maldin and Greece. City of Kavala.**

**SITREP: Nothing to report, green across the board. **

It had been a year since the total stand down of the AAF forces on Altis and its surrounding territories and their surrender by the hands of the NATO task force and its FIA allies (Now the current governing force of Altis as the Reformed Altis republic.). In this time Organizations such as the Red Cross and IDAP (International Development and Aid Project.) have been trying to restore basic human services in the war-torn country under a small but sizeable Military observation group consisting of both NATO and UN Observers to make sure the region is final stabilized. Due to 'conflicting' reports on CSAT peacekeeping operations in the region during the violent civil war and subsequent attack on NATO forces, CSAT influence in the UN observation team is limited at best but they do have a hand in it due to agreements made between the old AAF regime to provide Military and Financial aid, although the current governing body would deny such 'help' they are accepting it in low quantities. For now, the powder keg that is the Mediterranean region may finally be cooling down as more and more eyes face the growing issues to the East in the Pacific.

In Kavala, the former capital was once more flourishing albeit the scars of the civil war still very much visible with IDAP EOD teams disarming UXO's in multiple sections of the city and NATO observers patrolling the city alongside reformed AAF forces.

It was an uneventful day for Corporal Manos Roads, 'proud' member of both the former AAF and current Reformed AAF forces under careful watch of their NATO observers. He had been cleared of any wrong doings during the time after the surrender as he was a low ranking grunt that hadn't caught the eyes of the FIA tribunal that had condemned several officers along with entire divisions of men for war-crimes.

He himself was able to reenlists as a Corporal once again and thus was back in uniform, even if the population didn't hide their contempt for anyone in AAF garb, it felt like old times again just under new management for Manos.

He was currently leaning against a Strider's passenger door, boardly looking around the small plaza overlooking the main hospital from which various local ambulances along with a few IDAP ambulances milled about, people in the area just out for business reasons or for casual walks, the feeling of calmness was in the air, a calm quiet and hot day in the former capital. .

Right now, the hot Mediterranean sun beats down upon the city, not unbearable but not weather you'd want to be in a suit for, let alone several layers of body armor.

And Manos was feeling the full effect of it, even in the shade it gave some respite from the heat, but it wasn't enough, if only he could be his squad leader, relaxing inside the MRAP, He turned to the rolled down window of the diver seat. "Why do you get to relax in the Strider while me and the rest of the guys bake out here?" His Squad leader, Staff Sergeant Demos Ramose looked lazily out from the side seat he was currently occupied in regarding him with a tired look. "You know why, I nearly collapsed in this heat earlier, doctor told me if I stood around any further in this heat in full combat gear, I'd get a stroke." He'd grumble out at the annoyed Corporal. "And besides, I believe being an NCO entitles me to a little time resting in the shade." Even though the man may have held the ranking of sergeant, he wasn't exactly the most inspiring man to be in charge of this small group misfits and grunts, or perhaps he was exactly the sort of leader that was expected of company D, as they weren't exactly known for their tightly knitted group cohesion or ambition for greater things.

No, they were practically POGS with the exception of Manos, they a group of slackers and fresh recruits with little ideas or prospects for their future given Military gear and a little bit of Authority who were bored out of their minds stuck in Kavala in the heat with little respite for anything else except for looking busy. "Shouldn't an NCO be a leading guide for his men then, we are all at risk for a stroke here, why not have us all suffer together then have most of us suffer and one of us relaxing inside?" He'd look Demos in the eyes as he said so, being a little fed up on the NCOs antics of BSing reasons to relax.

He'd look at Manos, shaking his head sighing. "Fine, you win this time Corporal." He'd grumble at Mano's reasoning, but he had a point, lest others begin to question his own leadership abilities. He strapped on his PASGT helmet along with grabbing his MK20 Bullpup assault rifle cradling it in his hands as he unlock the side door of the Strider then disembark the MRAP promptly shutting the door behind him.

Manos just shook his head, resuming his bored expression looking around the plaza. "One of those days I guess…" One of the ambulance crew also milling about suddenly leaped into action, as an emergency call came in. They loaded into their ambulance promptly blaring the siren, they roared off into the city responding to the call. Not an uncommon sight as all manner of shit happened in Kavala, in fact the men of Company D had started a betting ring on the manner of injury that people were brought in for nowadays as this was their main posting assignments milling around the hospital.

"Hey, Mano." Private First-Class Rifleman Marinos called over from his side of the Strider as he approached the Corporal.

"What, don't tell me your going to ask my thoughts on how someone got hurt this time, you know I don't take part in you guys betting ring," PFC Marinos shook his head.

"Calling in for a favor then?" He'd ask whimsically to which Mano just sighed. "Fine, but if I'm right I want at least ten euros from your winnings."

He'd grin at his offer. "Alright then deal, so your judgement?" Mano thought for a moment, looking over to the road the Ambulance had sped off down.

"Personally, I think someone might have had heat stroke, didn't hear any explosions so it probably wasn't a UXO and if it was then they would have said something over comms by now." The PFC nodded to this, holding a notepad he jotted down his thoughts on it.

"Well, we will know soon enough." The PFC commented on his thoughts. "Indeed, we will, and I will be a whole ten Euros richer."

This caused both men to chuckle as the feeling of calmness filled in the air once more.

"Anyways man, I'll catch up with you once that ambulance crew comes back…" He'd wave Mano goodbye before sauntering off to the other side of the Strider once more undoubtedly to ask others their thoughts on what the injury was this time.

Once more left to himself, he'd slump slightly against the doors of the Strider. "Doubt anyone will care enough if I take a quick nap." He'd mutter to himself, glancing around the immediate area.

"Yeah, few minutes won't hurt." Manos then grasped the rim of his PASGT helmet, lowering it partly over his eyes as to block out the glare of the sun coming over the rooftops. And with no encouragement from anyone else he dozes off into a quick shallow nap.

* * *

He was alone again, running for his life as the NATO forces closed in. Corporal Manos Roads in the heart of Pygros, the capital of the soon to be toppled Altian Government. The skies darkened with grey as a heavy drizzle came down.

The unmistakable sounds of NATOs AMV-7 Marshall IFVs storming into the city plaza as NATO support fire blankets the majority of the defending AAF defenders, they were on their last legs and they knew it.

He ducked down as a hell storm of tracer rounds impacted the road next to him, his reflexes having him dive for cover, the nearest cover happening to be a blown out Sedan with its engine block still burning as the unrelenting hell of bullets fires all around him. He held onto his MK20 Bullpup rifle as though his life depended on it, having long lost his helmet and his Kevlar smeared with holes and blood it was a terrifying moment for him as he returned blind fire down the street at the NATO fire-team laying waste to all around him.

The distinct sounds of rounds flying overhead gave off a whizzing sound and the unmistakable sparks of bullets impacting his cover reassured him that the fireteam down the road had not forgotten about him.

Over the roofs he could see the soon to be razed building of the AAFs headquarters go up in fire as American A-164 Wipeouts did gun runs on the building to flush out any defenders still thinking the situation could be salvaged, they had no AA and little AT to halt the NATO advance, and they were paying for it. Word was the majority of the AAFs forces were now on the South Eastern end of the island holding out for some unknown reason, word around the remaining men was that Colonel Georgious Akhanteros, damn him, was holding out due to some sort of 'arrangement' he made with Altis's CSAT pay masters. No one knew for sure, but it involved CSAT making sure that he somehow got away mostly scot free, and if it meant the bastard just needed to waste the lives of the sons of Altis a little long he'd play right into CSAT's hand, hook line and sinker.

Of course, this mattered little for Manos as NATO forces pounded his cover with an unrelenting number of bullets that he could do little about. He feared he was going to die here on this day as everything came apart around them. And yet, the bullets stopped, and the air was filled with silence, he opened his eyes again, this wasn't a part of his memories having the horror of the NATO assault just cease, what he saw was something he couldn't even describe, the AAF flag proudly flying over what appeared to be a medieval city with roman architecture with celebrations going on around the town square and there he was, the center of it all with his current squad mates, hailed as heroes.

* * *

He awoke to the sounds of Kavalla once more. Adjusting his PASGT helmet to a more comfortable position he blinked for a few moments, adjusting to the sun light. Looking around with a cold sweat he realized he was indeed once more in reality and not his nightmares.

And much to his comfort his squad members had not noticed him drifting off to sleep, not like they would have cared much as they would have done the same thing anyways.

His thoughts soon drifting back to his dream, a strange one at that, even if the first part was fairly normal for him now, the latter half of the dream was new to him, but the details of it soon drifted off as soon as they came, thinking nothing more of it other than a result of the heat bearing down upon his mind, no more than a result of heat stress.

He glanced back over to the hospital seeing that countless other ambulances were now gone and numerous more hospital workers getting ready for something as more Ambulance crews both local and IDAP drove off into the city with their sirens on, the calmness in the air was broken from the distant sound of gun fire and explosions and the sounds of screaming and was that a fucking dragon that flew overhead?! He rushed to the other side of the Strider where his squad mates where listening in to their radios, Manos own radio was going off as well, message directly from the reinstated Minister of defense Nikos Panogoplous. Just as Manos joins the rest of his squad the radio barks off.

"At this time, an unknown invasion force of unknown attackers appeared in the center of Kavalla and quickly overwhelmed local law enforcement along with AAF and NATO patrols as the estimated number of attackers is estimated to be in the thousands." Shock went out among the squad, invasion again. Just a mere year since the civil war was over, they were being invaded by an unknown power once more.

"Holy shit…" Staff Sergeant Demos was left in utter shock, his mouth agape at what they were hearing on the radio. "You think it's CSAT?" One of the other squad mates were quick to chime in.

"Doubt it, why would CSAT attack it would only ruin their reputation in the public eye." Manos was quick to chime in, to which most looked his way.

"So, what are we dealing with then?" Demos was quick to ask, looking directly at Manos, who shrugged, pointing up to the sky. "Call me fucking crazy, but I am fairly certain that an honest to god dragon flew over just a moment ago." This had some of Company D look up only to see the smoke-filled skies as distant fires burned giving him a bemused or slightly annoyed look as they didn't feel like dealing with bad humor at this time.

"Regardless, we need to get in the fight now before the remaining military and law enforcement in Kavalla get overrun, it shouldn't take long for the Air Wings First Squadron to dust off and the 3rd Regiments armored support along with infantry to amass and get in the game here, in the meantime we need to get out there and retake our ground.."

Although the majority of Company D were POG's and slackers, they weren't cowards. Altis was still their home and they had an obligation to defend it, And to the satisfaction of many there, they agreed with Manos assessment with a nod, many looked nervous but that was to be expected when you didn't know who you were fighting. "So, Staff Sergeant what's our play here?" All eyes turned back to the unprepared NCO of the squad who gulped.

"Well, first order of business is we find secure the civilians and make sure that they evacuate in a quick and safe manner, if need be find a choke point and hold it as a safe position for both friendly units and evacuating civilians, we do this until more help arrives, no doubt NATO will have aircraft dust off from the CVN-83 Freedom US Sixth Fleet and from the International Airport, most likely sending infantry of their own with assistance of Armor, probably the 111th Infantry Division, while our own air support will have to dust off from the South East airfield, elements of the 2nd Squadron, meaning we have to hold for a good fifteen minutes or more."

He'd look around the assembled men, who in turn were surprised by the NCOs more serious expression now, where there had been a tired looking NCO who looked to not give a damn about his job was now a determined soldier ready to fight. The radio was still playing in the background as the defense minister called for the mobilization of the R-AAF along with being in talks with NATO High Command talking about assisting the Altian government in this new threat.

As of now, no one would know of the implications of this battle, as it was later to be known as the bleeding of Kavala. But its impacts would shake the core of the world, the small Island of Altis was not going to find any peace any time soon, as once again the eyes of the world would be drawn to the small Mediterranean Nation, and with that Altis was once more at war.

((Just want to say apologies for formatting, if it isn't already known this is my first real attempt at this sort of thing, I will fix it up over time but for now I do hope you enjoyed it, the cliff hanger is kind of crummy but I will see what if I can do the next chapter with a bit more action. Until then this is Medical Idiot 1-1 Signing out on this net.))


	3. Chapter 3, The Blood letting

The Blood Letting.

"No plan of operation extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the main hostile force." - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

RAAF Strike back.

**Date, August, 2035.**

**Location: Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis former Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**Aegean Sea, off the coast of Maldin and Greece. City of Kavala.**

**SITREP: Under Siege from unknown assailants.**

**POV - D Company, Reformed AAF, enroute to location of main fighting.**

Two Strider MRAPs barreled down the street carrying the men and women of D Company, the fighting in the distance had only gotten worse and Corporal Mano's reports on dragons was followed up when what appeared to be men wearing romen armor were seen flying said dragons as one flew down and snatchd a fleeing civilian off the street in front of them, then dropping him from five stories up.

Company Ds response was with their MRAP as the mounted RCWS Turret engaged the dragon (Later classified as wyvern.) with its 12.7 AP rounds shredding the beast hide and causing the pilot of the creature to plummet to the ground screaming, as both wyvern and pilot hit the tarmac the MRAPs had to drive around them as to avoid causing a larger mess then what gravity had already done.

Manos glanced out of the window of his MRAP as they drove by, just dazed by what he was seeing, in addition to what you'd expect to see in an active war zone, scores of legionaries were among the dead, what's more, none of them had a single firearm, instead they had carried swords and pikes and spears along with shields.

He turned to Marinos who in turn mirrored his shock. "Man what the fuck is this? I thought the medieval festival was months off." The PFC could only shake his head looking once more to the window. "That guy on the fucking dragon was wearing the same gear, what the fuck was with that?"

All and all the general feeling within the MRAP was one of shock at their surroundings, soon to turn to anger as in addition to dead Police and Military personnel, where scores upon scores of civilians. Stabbed and mutilated in some causes beyond recognition, what caught the soldiers in even more disgust was the fact that various women amongst the dead not only mutilated but missing clothing along with visible signs of struggle as marks could be seen across their body.

As they approached the further into the heart of the city, a wall of romen shields was seen ahead up the street with. While that alone was shocking what was more shocking was the creatures marching behind the shield wall.

"What the fuck!" The gunner exclaimed looking through the RCWS Turrets Thermals, the outline of creatures much larger than any human could be made out on the digital screen as what appeared to be pig men, minotaurs, ogre's and human hybrid creatures were seen marching along with the legionaries.

The MRAPs halted with a screech, getting into defensive positions with their sides facing the enemy force to provide cover for the men.

"Squad, I think we found our invaders!" Staff Sergeant Demos called out over comms. "Dismount and hold position, if these fuckers are responsible for the death and mutilation of our country men we will make them in turn pay for their transgressions, radio for support to get anyone in charge to know we are holding the line here!"

With that the men and women of Company D dismounted their MRAPs, using them as cover as the gunner stayed inside using the targeting computer aiming the mounted RCWS down the street at the advancing shield wall, soon followed by countless MK20 Assault rifles and a single PMCL AT Launcher.

**Date, IC 687.**

**Location: Barbaric lands beyond the GATE.**

**Unknown City.**

**Status: Pillaging in the name of Emperor Molt.**

**POV: General Maximus Pious - Head of the Empires Invasion force.**

After scouts had reported back on the barbarian city beyond the GATE, the overwhelming support of the Empire was of course to send in the Military and crush these savages and reshape them into loyal members of the Empire, and to make sure of this the Empire had sent its best General, Maximus Pious to ensure that any resistance from these savages would be squashed.

Of course having brutes such as those beast men and ogre helped but thus far mere infantry was proving good enough in the slaughter of these barbarians. Maximus was currently in his war tent in the square that the GATE had appeared in, currently overlooking the lush hills surrounding this city and feeling the ocean breeze, truly such lands would make an excellent addition in the Empire's long list of territorial claims.

He was brought out of his observations when the Officer in charge of the 1st infantry Corps asked him his orders for the prisoners they had captured.

He'd turned his attention to the exit of his tent, stepping out accompanied by the 1st Infantry Corps officer. "I am afraid any information we are trying to get out of these savages is of no use as they seem to speak an ancient language that was recorded in our books but as of thus far have had issues translating…" The officer continued on to Maximus, who in all honestly felt that it was better to kill the men and take the women, no need for information on their enemy when thus far they had met very little resistance.

"I understand Captain of the First Corps, but why bother with trying to get information out of them when it's much simpler to just chop their heads off and be off with their women?" He'd respond to the officers statement, a sneer of arrogance on his face as he spoke.

The officer contemplated the general for a moment, before speaking again. "Although your logic is sound on the matter, we are still in an unknown land and if we wish to conquer these people in the Emperor's glory then we must know what we are up against."

The General regarded the Officer before him, putting a hand to his chin, nodding in agreement. "Your right, how short sighted of me. It's just that so far any resistance we have come across has been from those men in tan and green outfits along with those ones in blue, although costly they were quickly overrun so I felt that any real attempts for gathering information on them would just be a pointless endeavor as its been so easy thus far."

His officer looked at him skeptically. "Shouldn't that concern us, sir? What if they were merely a guard force for this city. They may yet still have an army out there, let us not forget those horseless carriages making those bright lights and sounds that the ogres destroyed, strange as they were the interiors looked like mobile healer rooms that we have set up on the other side of the GATE."

As the two of them walked and talked, they finally arrived at the prisoner holding pin, inside where a few of the local women who the men had already tried to break in already and a few of their warriors in tan green and blue along with some men in red who had arrived in the mobile healer carriages they had broken apart, and some men wearing bright orange shirts with markings unknown to them who had also arrived with the red shirts.

The warriors were tied down, kneeling in the cage glaring at the Legionaries. What was odd was that the men in blue and green had the same flags on their outfits while the men in tan had two flags, one with multiple lines and stars and the other a blue rectangle with a single star in the middle with white lines shooting out from it, perhaps this nation's vassal state he mused.

At that moment, the one in tan began speaking in what sounded like incredibly broken Imperial, the main language of the Empire, giving Pious some pause as he listened to what the man in tan had to say, facing him fully now.

"Y̸o̷u̵ ̵d̸u̷m̴b̴ ̷f̷u̷c̶k̶e̴r̶s̸,̸ ̵o̶n̸c̷e̴ ̶t̵h̷e̵ ̴U̶S̸ ̴S̷i̴x̵ ̵F̵l̷e̴e̸t̴ ̸s̴e̵n̵d̷s̶ ̷i̵n̸ ̷o̵u̴r̵ ̴a̸i̵r̸ ̶s̴u̵p̵p̷o̸r̷t̵ ̸y̶o̷u̴r̴ ̸a̷l̴l̸ ̷f̶u̵c̴k̸i̷n̶g̶ ̶m̷i̸n̶c̵e̶ ̴m̷e̶a̴t̴,̶ ̸y̷o̵u̸ ̸d̵o̷n̵e̷ ̸f̷u̶c̶k̵e̶d̷ ̷u̶p̵ ̶w̷h̶e̸n̵ ̴y̶o̵u̴ ̸a̷t̴t̷a̷c̶k̷e̶d̶ ̵U̵S̷ ̶a̵n̸d̸ ̵N̵A̸T̴O̶ ̶personnel.." He spat at Piouses shoes, to which the Legionary in charge of the pins jab a spear into the tan mans upper shoulder blade eliciting a scream of pain from him.

Pious regarded the now wounded man in tan with apathetic eyes, waving his hand. "Slice the barbarians throat as an example to his fellow prisoners.." he'd turn away, just as the screams of the man in tan rose as the legionaries hauled him out of the crude cage to slice his neck.

The men in various colors watched the legionaries slice the man in tans throat with varying looks of horror and disgust, some of the tan mans fellow comrades yelled what could only be described as barbaric insults at the Legionaries but it all fell upon deaf ears as the man was hauled to his knees with a legionary preparing to slice the man's throat as he was held down by two other legionaries.

General Pious watched from afar as they cut the man's throat, to which they tossed his corpse back into the pin, the legionaries mocking and jeering the men inside at the death of their comrade.

A servant of the General hobbled out of his tent once word of the spit on his masters shoe was reported, meekly kneeling to his boot he rubbed the spit away with his rag, Pious looking on at the prisoners turning to his captain of the first corps. "Absolutely barbaric, wouldn't you agree?" He'd indicate to the men in the cages to which the Captain nodded. "Indeed sir…" The general began to make his way off towards the front lines the captain in tow as the yelling of the men in various colors grew louder. In the skies above, a US MG-4A Greyhawk Drone circling over Kavala that had gotten footage of the execution of US personnel, pushing NATO and AAF forces to mobilize faster as details of the sheer level of barbarity of the invading forces began to filter down the chain of command.

**POV - D Company, RAAF - Currently engaging unknown contacts in the middle of the city.**

And with the men in position, Staff Sergeant Demos gave his verdict to his men.

"LIGHT THEM THE FUCK UP!" And with those words, the men and women of D Company engaged the enemy, green tracer rounds lit up the road as they slammed into the 'Romans' shields shredding them upon contact, perhaps 9mm rounds would not have been enough to blast the shields, but NATO 5.56x45mm was more than enough to shred them to kingdom come as the AAF forces let their weapons go free. Screams filled the air as now the invading forces were chopped down having come up across the local military ready for a fight and not patrolling police men and or NATO observers on shore leave, no they had come up against an extremely pissed of Altian Armed Forces squad intent on retaking their city.

The Striders RCWS Turret opened up firing into the masses of on coming forces, the front line of the enemy broke and panic was evidently seen but still they marched, then an ogre in the rear of the formation hurled a ruined car forwards at the AAF defenders, it impacted into the road skidding forwards, bashing up against the unarmored Strider. As this occurs the nearby AAF soldiers ducked down not wishing to be crushed, the ogre had to go, now!

"Specialist Alexia, get that PMCL prepped and target lock that fucking ogres head!" Demos yelled over to the AT specialist."On it chief!" She'd yell back as she unslung the AT launcher off her backside.

"Clear back blast!" she'd yell to the men behind her who in turn moved away to other cover.

With the safety of their own men assured, she used the basic target locking system in the PMCL to target the ogres head. "Tora tora tora.." she'd mutter as the rocket flew out of the launcher, flying forwards towards the invading forces positions.

The men and demi-humans to the front of the formation saw the strange glowing rod fly at them, men panicked and broke rank, diving for cover away from what appeared to be the barbarians powerful flame magic. The ogre, wasn't so bright as it roared at the approaching object raising its hand to swat away what it assumed to be the magic, only for its hand and most of its arm to be shredded upon slapping the missile with its bare hands, and its chest to be embedded with countless amounts of shrapnel.

A mighty roar was heard from the now wounded ogre as it entered a blood lust state, crushing its own troopers in front of it to get at the things that had wounded it, breaking the invaders ranks even further. "Holy shit! Its charging right at us! Forget the other fuckers, bring that big bitch down!" Manos screamed to the others who now saw the Orge charging their position. "Alexia get that launcher loaded now! Everyone else mag dump the son of a bitch!" Demos was screaming at the men. The MRAPs RCWS turret fired at the charging mass of angry green along with the other men, while their bullets were having an effect on the ogre it wasn't enough to slow its charge. "The eyes, aim for its fucking eyes!" PFC Marinos screamed out to the gunner in the MRAP, who in turn did just that and went for the Ogre's eyes.

This had the intended result of it clutching its eyes screaming as spouts of blood sprayed out from where its eyes had been, now only shattered holes in its skull remained as 12.7 rounds pelted its eyes and its advance slowed until it was fifty meters away from the group, giving the Infantry enough time to reload their weapons and for Specialist Alexia to finally reload the PMCL launcher.

"Launcher loaded, clear back blast!" she'd yell out, although no one was behind her this time. And with that, the rocket lunged at its victim just fifty tantalizing meters away.

The Orge hearing the same thing that had crippled its arm roared with anger, slashing blindly at the air in front of it in a vain attempt to kill the 'magic' that had so badly hurt him, said 'magic' planted itself firmly into its head vaporizing what little of a brain it had along with its entire skull in a shower of red gore.

"Damn, good effect on target!" One of the riflemen cried out as the Orge toppled over headless in the street, further down the road what was left of the now badly battered 'Romen' forces began to reform, some officer type giving orders to their men.

"It isn't over yet, concentrate fire again at the enemy forces, closing in now at three hundred meters, front!" Demos called his men, who in turn didn't need the extra encouragement and eagerly opened up with their rifles once more upon the 'Romen' hoard who was now rushing their position with devastating results on their end, but they were making ground slowly towards the AAF defenders.

The AAF defenders slowly began to realize they were running out of ammo, and fast. This was brought to their attention when their RCWS Turret went dry on ammo, only making clicking sounds as the mechanism tried to insert more shells into the turret. "Shit! Turrets down we are fucked on ammo!" The gunner yelled out from the MRAP, soon the problem shifted to the riflemen who also began to run dry on ammo having to resort to their sidearms.

"Damn it! I got nothing in my MK20!" Marinos called from his position behind the unarmed Strider, resorting to his ACP-C2 45. ACP pistol, firing rounds off at the now increasingly close hoard of 'Romans' who ignored their injured and dead, they too were in a state of blood lust at being so close to the barbarians that had slaughtered their friends and comrades, soon a flurry of arrows pelted the AAF's choke point, some men got hit in the Kevlar, others the arrows glanced off their helmets. Regardless, it got the point across to the defenders, pull the hell out or be slaughtered, or far worse alternatives.

Gritting his teeth, Staff Sergeant Demos knew this was a lost battle. He swallowed his pride and gave the order to pull out. "Listen up! We are running low on ammo and we won't be able to hold out for more then a few more minutes, mount up and pull the fuck back, word is what is left of the police and local military forces evacuated the civilians to the castle up on the hill overlooking the city, we are pulling back there until our own heavy hitters and the rest of the army shows up, until then we make a mad dash for friendly lines!" Although they still wished to fight, they knew that if they did would only result in their slaughter. So while those still with rifle ammo provided cover fire everyone else mounted into the Striders, and once those personnel were loaded in then the men covering them pulled back to the Striders, mounting in not a moment too soon as the enemy was now practically 30 meters away, close enough they could make out the rage in their eyes.

"That's it, we are loaded, get us the hell out of here!" Demos yelled over his comms, and with that the AAF Striders reversed sharply just as the 'Roman' soldiers broke upon the MRAPs stabbing them with their swords and spears to little effect, one even climbed the armed MRAP trying to stab at the strange contraption on top, only to get flung off as the vehicle sped down the street, the dazed man tried to stand only to be flattened by the unarmed Strider barreling down after the lead vehicle, leaving a puddle of crushed organs and ruined armor.

Just as they pulled out, the sounds of combat were heard over their radios.

"This is Sergeant Andrianos Milos of the Kevala Police Department, we are being pinned down outside the old castle, our riot units are doing what they can along with the Military but we are quickly getting overrun! If any remaining personnel in the city can hear this we need your support now damn it!"

((Hope you liked this chapter lads, I added some combat to it and I feel that the outcome for the situation makes sense in terms of the small group being under prepared for the numbers of men the Empire threw into the campaign, don't you worry the City isn't lost yet. Next chapter will have NATO finally get in the war and not be POWs getting killed, I promise. Until then this is Medical Idiot 1-1 Signing out.))


	4. Chapter 4, Air war for Kavala

((I wish to add this disclaimer before anything else, I am not the best when it comes to all military terminology, forgive me in advance. And also all characters or events taking place in this story have not occurred.)

_Air war for Kavala._

_"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his." - George S. Patton_

NATO Intervention.

**Date, August, 2035.**

**Location: Off shore of the Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**US Sixth Fleet, NATO - U.S. Navy's Carrier Strike Group 14.**

**CVN-83 (USS Freedom.) Air Craft Carrier, center of fleet formation.**

**Aegean Sea, off the coast of Maldin and Greece.**

**SITREP: U.S. NATO Personnel currently gearing for air and sea assault to retake Kavala from unknown contacts designated 'Romans'.**

The situation was bizarre to say the least, as of 1300 Hours an unknown force 'appeared' for lack of a better term in the heart of Kavala, quickly overwhelming most AAF forces along with the handful of NATO observers assisting AAF forces within the city, multiple MIA personnel and at least one directly confirmed KIA of American Personnel, not even including the countless volunteer aid workers and civilians, executed near a strange GATE like structure, information on the matter was being monitored by a MQ-4A Greyhawk drone sent out from Altis International airport.

Currently elements of the U.S. Six Fleet were sailing towards Altis to provide more support and elements of the 111th infantry division stationed at the International airport were mobilizing for a bitz into the city while AAF infantry and air were being sent in from the south eastern end of the island.

Currently it was Carrier Strike Group 14s job to clear the skies over Kavala before elements of the 480th Flight out of the international airport took off in support of the 111ths advance, utilizing current generation fixed winged fighters such as the F/A-181 Black Wasp II air superiority fighter to clear the skies of what are being commonly reported as 'dragons' harassing forces on the ground.

Such task was being handed too Captain Frank Scott, Callsign Alpha Flight one, along with Alpha Flight two, Alpha Flight three, and Alpha Flight four. Four aircraft altogether armed up with 20mm cannons with multiple 2x BIM-9X AA missiles on top of an additional 4x AMRAAM AA missiles, no GBUs or other anti-ground ordinance as their mission was to strictly resecure the skies for the actual heavy hitters, if need be they could provide CAS with their 20mm autocannons.

As of now, Alpha Flight 1 - 4 were being briefed in an impromptu briefing room with a video monitor playing footage from the MQ-A4 Greyhawk observing the enemys 'GATE' as it was being called.

"As of this time, the 'Roman' forces seem to be constantly pouring out of this structure here, situated in the center of Kavala…" The commander of NATO forces in the region, Colonel David Armstrong head of the 111th Infantry division mobilizing at the airport, pointing to the structure. "At this time they are kidnapping civilians and bringing them back through the GATE for unknown reasons." Once more indicating to the entrance zone of the GATE, where various tents could be seen with cages sent up, some of the cages containing what appeared to be mostly women being hauled into the GATE, a few of the containers seemed to have extra guards around them, and what appeared to be a pool of blood. "Over here is where they seem to be keeping both Police and AAF personnel along with our own guys, along NATOs MIA list are Private Danials T, Private Mich C, Corporal Bennings C, and Private First Class Aaron F." A quick prompt over the drone feed showed the four faces of the missing men assumed to be POWs. "They are also holding multiple emergency responders hostage as well, in this cage right here…" He'd point to another cage, a few meters away from the one holding the POWs. "Captured multiple hospital workers along with a few IDAP volunteers, a few of which we believe to be Americans."

He inhaled, looking around at the flight team." "Right now washington along with NATO command is breathing down my neck due to the wanton slaughter of civilians and complete disregard of the Geneva convention at the hands of these Roman soldier wannabees, the sooner you people get in the air and secure the airspace the less pressure we will be under." He'd folded his arms, looking around. "Any questions?"

Frank raised his hand to which Armstrong nodded. "Good ahead and speak your piece." Frank pointed to the digital screen. "Sir, civilians along with a handful of AAF and local police are trapped in the castle overlooking Kavala, once we secure our objectives are we authorized to provide CAS on enemy forces about to overwhelm their position?"

The Colonel leaned over to one of his aids, whispering to him, the aid in question spoke into his intercom, a moment later he nodded to Armstrong now facing the Captain once more.

"In event the greenbacks call for CAS, command has authorized the support of AAF forces trapped in the castle, their call sign is Bed-rock one, current guy incharge there is Sergeant Andrianos Milos, apparently Kavala police department, if they contact you for help, it's up to your judgement to assist. Personally the less pressure on the civilians the better, just make sure to deal with the primary objective first." Frank nodded, lowering his arm. Armstrong once more looking around the assembled pilots. "Any further questions gentlemen, if not we are on a time crunch here."

No further pilots of Alpha Flight raised their hands, getting an approving nod from Armstrong. "With that gentlemen, mount up and give these bastards hell, contact us on NATO-MEDCOM if you need anything, callsign GATE-Keeper, dismissed." The men rose from their chairs, saluting to the Colonel who in turn returned their salute. Colonel Armstrong along with a few of his aids exited the room towards the command deck while the pilots filed out towards the flight deck.

While walking along the corridor the ships PA went off. "At this time, elements of the amphibious assault group Victor 1-10 proceed to your designated AAVs at this time." As of currently the II Marine Expeditionary Force were being prepped for both aerial and amphibious assault on the coastal side of Kavala while the army's 111th infantry division was going to steamroll from the east end of the city pushing to the center assisted by aerial support and the airforce, all the while AAF forces would push along side NATO forces entering from the east end of the city.

The harbor was already on lock down in no due part due to the Altians small naval contingency consisting of a single Ticonderoga class cruiser they bought off of the United States along with several small patrol boats armed with a few mounted mini-guns and RCWS GMG 40mm turrets, so any attempts of a naval excursion on part of the 'Romans' was highly unlikely.

As the pilots emerged from the interior of the USS Freedom the flight deck was covered in activity as flight deck workers were directing several CH-67 Hurons were prepping for dust off as Marines boarded into the aircraft, supported by several AH-9 Pawnees and two AH-99 Blackfoot attack helicopters. And in the center of the flight deck were their F/A-181 Black Wasp, all prepped and ready to bring some pain. Frank headed towards his own aircraft, climbing up the ladder on the side into the jet fighter. He'd attach his Pilot helmet, fixing the oxygen tube on, checking to see the oxygen was flowing. He'd then run through a systems check of the aircraft, checking flaps, weapons, fuel. Once he concluded his check up, he finally radioed in. "Alright Alpha Flight one here, check in." He waited a moment, then getting his response.

"Alpha Flight 2, green here."

"Alpha Flight 3, good to go."

"Alpha Flight 4, lets go break shit, over."

"Alright, all Alpha Flight callsigns, stand by for catapult at this time." Frank navigated his jet to the catapult system, the ground teams assisting him as he did so, his radio squawked as he was getting prepped. "Alright Captain Frank, this is GATE-keeper here, stand by for weather brief."

He'd grip his control stick, inhaling.

"Weather currently is a clear sky with a gusty winds coming out of the North East, around 10 knots, nothing serious at this time, you are cleared for take off once ground crews are set."

"Thank you sir." Frank replied over comms. "Good hunting captain, GATE-keeper out." The radio went silent, looking over to his right the ground crew member started counting down from three on his hand. Frank gave him a thumbs up, turning back to his front. Inhaling once more.

"Alpha Flight one, launching in…" He held his breath.

"Three…" He felt the steam mechanism start to activate, a low rumble.

"Two…" He gripped the joystick tighter, looking forwards as his pilot HUD came online.

"One…" He felt the jet lurch forwards violently.

"Catapult away, good flying out there Alpha Flight 1." And with that, he was rocketed forwards in tangent with his F/A 181's after burners.

Alpha Flight 2 was on the other catapult system and launched just as Captain Frank was propelled, together they began ascending upwards towards flight altitude.

"Alpha Flight 1 - 2 airborn, Alpha Flight 3 - 4 your up." Frank spoke briefly into his radio. "Alpha Flight 2, circle around with me until they get airborne." A brief bit of static come over the radio before Alpha Flight 2 responded. "Good copy on your last Alpha Flight one, circling till Alpha 3-4 dust off here."

For two minutes Alpha 1 - 2 circled over the carrier group, once Alpha 3 - 4 were prepped on the catapult system, they were launched skywards as the duel F/A 181's ascended skywards, the entirety of Alpha Flight 1-4 was now airborne. "Alright, Alpha 3 - 4 regroup on me and Alpha Flight 2's formation, assume echelon formation until we reach the edge of Kavala or we engage hostile fliers." This was met with a plethora of agreement over comms, they were about five minutes away from the coast.

"So Captain, do you have any idea what the hell is actually happening in Kavala?" Alpha Flight 3 asked over the radio. "Hate to break it to you, but I only know as much as you do, I have a feeling this shit might get black tape all over it sooner or later." A light cough was heard over the radio then. "I don't think so Captain, the way I hear it IDAP had some forign journalist with them today showing the dangers of UXO's, meaning right now this shit might be all over AAN."

Frank blinked a moment. "AAN might be broadcasting this?" He asked back to Alpha Flight 3.

"Yeah, at least that's what the word was when I was on shore leave yesterday, they were following around the IDAP UXO clean up guys clearing cluster munitions in Kavala, so if they are still there and not Roman food, most likely we are about to get on World Television once we enter the airspace." Alpha Flight 2 was quick to add in his own remark. "Think my ma is going to see this? I want to show her I can be a big boy and fuck up some cosplayers." This elicited a chuckle over comms before Frank squashed it. "Maintain comm discipline gentlemen, we are still in a combat theater here." The chuckles died down as it was replaced with the steady roar of the F/A 181's engines. They flew for a few minutes in silence before their comms lit up.

"Alpha Flight 1-4, stand by this is GATE-Keeper, just wanted to give a heads up, the AAFs First Squadrine scrambled two A-143 Buzzards armed with CAS oriented weapons along with a single A-149 Gryphon Air Superiority fighter to Kavala, their call sign is Thunder, 1 - 3. You along with Thunder one are to clear Kavala's airspace and once the enemy air assets have been liquidated you are to shadow Thunder 2 - 3 while they prep to drop some GBUs on hostile ground forces to alleviate their ground forces, how copy over?" "We copy GATE-Keeper, support Thunder 1 in clearing the air space of hostile Roman fliers then shadow Thunder 2 - 3 while they conduct CAS." "Stand by, we are plugging you into Thunder 1 - 3 AAF communications now, wait one for traffic." The radio would turn to static for a moment as NATO MEDCOM added in the AAF fighters to the broadcast.

A Greek accent then came over the radio. "This is Thunder One here, NATO Aircraft, Alpha Flight 1, you copy?" Frank checked his HUD, seeing three highlighted icons in the distance, friendly coloration was shown on the fast movers approaching from the south east of the city. "We copy Thunder One, Alpha Flight one moving in to assist from your West banking towards the city." The AAF pilot took a minute before responding. "Copy, we see you on Radar, stand by we got something here, looks like one of the Dragons that keeps getting mentioned, wait one…"

In the distance where the three AAF fighters where, a stream of green tracers were seen firing at what looked to be a distant speck to Alpha Flight 1 - 4. "Thunder one, we have AMRAAM prepped here, if you need additional ranged support we are in range to fire upon hostile fliers at this time." Frank said over comms to the AAF pilot currently engaged in combat with the enemy flier.

"Copy Alpha Flight, get a target lock on some of these fuckers, five more are coming in hot, not fast enough to intercept but certainly enough to fuck up our trajectory, they should be picking up on your radar."

Sure enough, five additional radar contacts were spotted coming in towards the AAF fighters positions. "We see them, Alpha 2 - 4, pick targets and prepare to fire on my mark." A chorus of Yessir or Roger came over comms in response, the sound of the targeting system filled the Air Crafts cabin, the rapid beeping sound indicating acquiring target lock. Suddenly the beeping was replaced with a single sound, meaning he had target lock.

"Target acquired.." He spoke over comms. "Target designated." Followed by two more responses of that nature. "Alpha 2-4, Fox one, out." With that, four AMRAAM AA Missiles flew from their carrying prongs and launched themselves towards the wyvern in the distance.

Frank watched the missiles depart towards the enemy filers, he then saw the missile icon vanish and in the distance, four explosions were seen midair. "Alpha Flight 1, good effect on target, four of the five just got shredded here, I am engaging the last one at this time." The sound of the autocannon from the AAF fighter was heard over the radio as another volley of green tracers shredded the last visible radar contact. "Thunder 1 - 3, stand by we are forming up, Alpha Flight 2 - 4 break off and assume your own formation, you are cleared hot on anything with a pair of flapping wings and a fucker riding in the open." Frank gave the order to break off formation and assume their own. "Thunder One, I'd recommend having Thunder 2 - 3 circle around Kavala at this time until the airspace is deemed clear, your discretion over."

"Copy Alpha Flight one, I will relay that to my guys, once the air space is cleared I am going to have them fly over the city and drop a few GBUs at the main force assaulting the civilian evacuation zone." The AAF pilot relayed something over the comms in Greek, in response the two other AAF CAS Aircraft flew off to circle around the city.

"Alright, Thunder One, form up on Alpha Flight 4, we are going in…" The Five Air Superiority fighters descended into the airspace above Kavala. "Picking up multiple Radar contacts here, at least fifteen and counting…"

Frank noted that most of the center of the city was currently on fire, making out with his eyes alone what appeared to be multiple large clusters of men and things evidently not human pillaging parts of the city.

Looking up he could make out the specs of incoming 'fighter craft' coming from the mostly northern section of the city, five of which were chasing a IDAP UH-1 Huey flying over the city, its tail propeller was seen smoking as evidently the 'Romans' had managed to attack it.

"Shit, we got a civilian helicopter down there, they are trying to bring it down, I am moving to engage!" Alpha Flight 2 did a roll to get under the other fighters, zeroing in on the five Wyvern harassing the IDAP helicopter. The rumble of the F/A 181's 20mm cannons were heard as a stream of red tracers shredded four of the five Wyvern.

The fourth one evaded the tracers, flying to the right and forgetting all about the UH-1 flying out of Kavala headed south.

"Alright people, engage at will, good hunting." Frank then did a roll, flying towards Kavala proper now, engaging the last Wyvern Alpha 2 had failed to liquidate, this time turning it to red mist.

Alpha 3-4 moved off in separate directions, 3 flying over the eastern end of the city engaging with 20mm and AMRAAMs while 4 engaged mostly with his 20mm shredding a closely clustered group of fliers.

Thunder one also engaged, flying over the castle taking down two larger Wyvern harassing the defenders below, for a show of force after strafing over the castle he popped flares over the 'Roman' forces assaulting the castle, undoubtedly spooking several of their forces.

* * *

**POV: AAN World News anchor.**

**Date, August, 2035.**

**Location: Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis, Kavala.**

**Currently within the AAF defended castle atop the hill overlooking Kavala.**

The situation on the ground was bad, the AAF soldiers along side police manning the walls and entrance to the castle were slowly getting overrun as ammo was becoming more and more scarce.

The IDAP team Spencer Winters had been filming with had been ambushed and almost slaughtered moments ago in the city, they were lucky a group of NATO observers had been with them who held off the 'Roman' soldiers that had assaulted them, he had no idea what happened to them but because of their brave sacrifice they managed to get to the AAF designated safe zone.

Right now Spener was leaning against the AAN news van, its satellite dish extended as he was broadcasting from inside the siege of Kavala, he was currently filming live to the AAN headquarters where the footage was being played back around the world. He spoke into his microphone.

"As you can see Richard." He pointed off to the city skyline. "The unknown attackers appear to hold air dominance right now as...oh my god!" A IDAP UH-1 Huey was seen trying to escape from the city, currently being pursued by multiple wyvern. His camera crew filmed the IDAP helicopter get chased off.

"Uh, as you can see they are indiscriminately attacking everything they come across as they were seen earlier murder civilain aid workers along side medical workers responding to where they first arrived…" The camera followed the helicopter until suddenly a powerful roar shook the ground as four of the five Wyren turned to mist. Moments later a American F/A 181 Air dominance fighter fly past the Huey, the jet turning off over the city, soon followed by another volley of fire as the last wyvern was reduced to red mist. Cheers erupted all over the castle from both civilian and defenders.

"You get that on camera? Uh, Richard from the looks of it NATO coalition forces have finally made their attack against the invading forces, right now multiple jets had entered above the city, an air war is currently underway above us!" Multiple flashes of light are seen as missiles engage and eliminate the Wyverns flying over the city, sporadic tracer rounds are seen as they clear the skies over Kavala. "As of now, it would appear joint AAF and NATO forces are clearing the skies over Kavala, and hang on something is happening, a drone is flying over the castle dropping pamphlets.." A AL-6 Pelican Small Drone is seen flying over the castle dropping pamphlets down, Spencer kneels down grabbing a fallen pamphlet. It had two translations on it, both English and Greek, it read as following.

"In a few moments, AAF fighters will fly in and deploy bombs at close range, all civilians are asked to seek solid cover in the event a malfunction occurs, this message has been brought to you by request of the Altis Ministry of Defence."

Spencer is seen looking up for a moment at the castle wall, indicating to his cameraman. "Richard, we are going to get a closer look as they come in, keep the footage rolling.."

The camera moves as the cameraman follows Spencer up a flight of stairs leading up to the perimeter the police and military set up to hold off the 'Roman' advance. Down below close to two hundred dead or dying Roman soldiers are seeing having been shredded by the defenders.

Meanwhile amassing on the street was a far larger group of Roman soldiers amass to charge the castle. "Uh, as you can see down here the invaders are planning another push as…" He'd be cut off as the sounds of two vehicles are heard down the street behind the Romans, soon panic breaks out below as two AAF MRAPs charge through the roman ranks, crushing and maming many of the Romans, leaving a trail of blood as the charge towards the Castle. "Holy shit, it would appear that even now AAF personnel are making a mad dash for the castle!" An Ogre is spotted about to crush one of the MRAPs as it drove past only for its backside to explode as an AAF soldier manning a Titan MPRL Compact AA launcher fires into its backside, causing the beast to fall over dead crushing several of its comrades, the 'Romans' archers are seen pelting the MRAPs with arrows to no visible effect.

As the miniature Tiananmen square massacre occurs down below, two AAF fighters are seen flying in low over the city right towards the hoard. "Here comes the AAF air support, shit those cars are still in the blast radius!" He'd grip the edge of the wall, watching the MRAPs rush forwards up the hill.

Soon two specs are seen flying off of the Jets, as the bombs descend onto the hoard below. The camera violently shakes as the connection is lost for a few moments. The footage comes back showing a massive crater where the majority of the 'Roman' forces had been, now little more than charred remains. The two vehicles that were seen making a mad dash are then filmed entering the castle again erupting in cheers as the sight of bloodied MRAPs bring.

"Uh, it would appear the government airstrike against the invaders was very effective, right now those military personnel that made the mad dash into the compound are being greeted with a hero's welcome.." Just then an AAF soldier waves them off, telling the AAN crew to get off the wall. "Uh, it would appear we are being told to get off the wall, in the meantime we are going to go ask the government forces that just entered what the situation is…"

They cut the footage for now, leaving the AAN broadcast back at the AAN headquarters, the entire world watched intently for more information to come in on the developing situation in Altis.

* * *

**POV: NATO Alpha Flight 1 - 4 , AAF First Squadrine Thunder 1 - 3.**

**Date, August, 2035.**

**Location: Airspace over Kavala.**

"Good effect on targets, Thunder 2 - 3, good effect, out…" Frank slouched slightly in his seat as his F/A 181 did one last pass over the city, the air space was clear. "GATE-Keeper, GATE-Keeper, Break.." He'd radio in to Colonel Armstrong. "This is GATE-Keeper here, send traffic Alpha Flight one." Frank inhaled, looking once more over the city. "The air space is cleared, I say again the air space is cleared, you are cleared to carry out the next phase of the operation…" Just as he finished giving the SITREP, Several NATO A-164 Wipeouts are seen entering over the eastern end of the city, followed by several smaller aircraft, NATO AH-9 Pawnee and multiple AAF WY-55 Hellcats carrying both armaments and AAF forces, down the way towards the southern end of the city columns of NATO and AAF IFV's and APC's and MRAPs were seen entering the city.

"Copy Alpha Flight One, you did a fantastic job out there, the 111th Infantry and II Marine Expeditionary Force have it covered from here along with the Greenbacks, RTB once Alpha Flight 2 - 4 link up, we have other assets in the air now." Frank tilted his F/A 181 Sea bound, just in time to catch the II Marine Expeditionary Force's AAVs sailing towards the harbor along with several AH-9 Pawnees Supported by two AH-99 Blackfoots with five CH-67 Hurons flying towards the castle to relive the heavily stressed AAF defenders. "Alpha Flight 2-4, RTB, mission accomplished boys…"

With that, NATOs firm response was underway, the first phase of retaking Kavala complete in a complete success. As Four F/A 181s roared overhead Kavala, popping flares off as they flew west over the bay.

Now the AAFs and NATOs full response can begin.

((And that's a wrap, hope you enjoyed this chapter as it was a bit more combat oriented, next chapter will conclude with NATO and the AAF finally driving back the Empire into the GATE and securing the city, until then this is Medical Idiot 1-1 out.))


	5. Chapter 5, Civilian Militia

Civilian Militia.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State." - Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

**Date, August, 2035.**

**The Reformed Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**Kavala, Aegean Sea, off the coast of Greece.**

**SITREP: Local ground forces report nothing out of the ordinary, situation normal.**

**Time stamp: Fifteen minutes before the first wave of invaders, Kavala city center. **

As the day progressed as usual, Miron Stamatiou was enjoying his day under the Mediterranean sun. The streets were packed, a welcomed sight after years of civil war as the tourism industry was once more thriving.

The occasional IDAP Van drove past to some location in the city as even with the improvement to life after the war, much of the scars of those bloody times were still affecting many Altians way of life.

Regardless, even with the threats from the war era still looming in the shadows it wasn't enough to distract people from the fact that tangible peace was finally happening, and as such Miron felt that he should be enjoying his well fought for peace sitting down on a stool overlooking the main square in the center of the city, as traffic flowed in and out of the square the sounds of city life filled the mediteranian air.

Nearby a joint NATO/RAAF squad walked along the square making sure nothing was out of order.

Everything was going so well, the children out with their families, occasional dog walker and street musicians playing on the corner, Miron couldn't help but bask in it all, until a shimmering light slowly got his attention.

In Fact it got everyone's attention as where there had once been the center of the round about now stood a colossal Roman GATE, with thick wooden doors blocking it.

The NATO along with RAAF squads halted, staring at this, traffic came to a stand still as drivers stared upon the massive structure, and the sounds of the city dimmed as people were reduced to a hushed murmur. Miron was in shock just like everyone else, his mouth hanging agape at the structure that had materialized.

Then...the doors opened revealing a darkened interior leading to what looked like a void, out of which a cacophony of shrieks poured out, followed by what appeared to be dragons with riders upon them exiting the GATE.

The already shocked people began to realize something bad was afoot as men dressed in Roman gear alongside strange creatures began exiting the GATE, a man leading them who appeared to be in more 'ornate' armor led the assembled hoard, drawing his sword he yelled at the mass of civilians in some unknown language.

"I̶ ̴G̶e̶n̷e̴r̷a̸l̸ ̵M̸a̴x̶i̷m̶u̶s̸ ̸P̸i̸o̴u̵s̸ ̴o̸f̵ ̶t̶h̶e̴ ̸E̵m̷p̷i̷r̸e̵ ̴d̵e̸c̷l̷a̸r̵e̶ ̴y̶o̴u̵ ̴s̸u̴b̷j̷u̴g̶a̷t̷e̸d̸ ̴i̶n̵ ̴E̷m̶p̴e̶r̷o̷r̶ ̷M̶o̵l̸t̴s̷ g̴l̷o̴r̶y̵,,̸ ̸m̷e̶n̷ ̶s̷l̴a̴u̶g̸h̶t̷e̶r̷ ̵t̴h̶e̷s̶e̸ ̶b̴a̷r̷b̸a̴r̸i̸a̵n̴s̵ ̴i̸n̸ ̸t̵h̶e̴ ̸E̸m̵p̶e̷r̷o̸r̴s̷ ̶n̵a̸m̵e̵!̴ !" The man yelled as his soldiers roared in agreement, they charged at the shocked civilians who only now began to run for their lives as scores of them were cut and hacked down by these Romans.

The larger ones, the non-human ones advanced with the Legionaries, it could only be described as an ogre in Miron's judgement charged a NATO Hunter MRAP that had been parked near the GATE, grasping its underside it hurled the MRAP into a nearby house, tearing its walls apart as it roared at its savage act. One thing was for sure, he needed to get the hell out of here, fast!

Getting up from his Bench one of the Legionaries spotted him, rushing him with his sword raised yelling a war cry. Miron promptly side stepped him as he got closed, slamming his fist into the man's metallic helmet, wincing at the pain this caused he was at least able to disorient him, drawing his old ACP-C2 Pistol he had kept back from his time in the FIA, he slid the chamber back aiming at the mans head.

The Legionary gained his bearings, turning sword in hand towards the barbarian that had dared resist his own demise, only to come face to face with some strange pointed stick facing his head, he was unable to ponder it any further as a 45. ACP round ripped straight into his head, splattering Miron in his blood.

"Ah, shit…!" He staggered back having not needed to kill someone in a while now, he turned back seeing that more Legionaries were now advancing towards him, now or never.

He turned to the fence to his rear, vaulting over it landing in someone's backyard, he rolled before standing up. He then began running through the garden to the other street, cutting out of the garden, he arrived to the sight of a small number of RAAF personnel with a FV-720 Mora IFV, all of which were slowly moving away from the nearest street as they laid down fire down the street.

"COME ON YOU BASTARDS! TAKE THAT LARGE ONE DOWN DAMN IT!" Some NCO yelled to his men as they fired all their weapons at an ogre advancing ahead of the Legionaries.

It trampled several of the RAAF forces as its torso was riddled from the Moras 30mm cannon, it was taking effect but sadly the ogre noticed the structural damage being done to its self, too which it responded by grabbing the Moras turret and bending it, roaring at the now mostly defenseless IFV.

It now peppered it with 7.62 from its Coaxial Machine gun, breaking free of the ogres grip and reversing with the Infantry down the street in an attempt to hold off the oncoming hordes.

Miron dove out of the garden into the street behind the ogre but in full view of the advancing Legionaries who welcomed him with a few tossed spears and a barrage of arrows, one of which hit his shoulder.

"AH SHIT!" He yelled feeling his shoulder get impaled by the arrow, he responded in kind with 45. ACP from his pistol, running to the nearest gate in the wall.

He managed to injury a few of the legionaries, he knew this due to the sounds of screaming coming from their ranks, he staggered his way into the next garden the legionaries close behind now, busting into a house, he ran through the first floor living room out the front door onto an adjacent street where several ambulances along with two police trucks were currently parked.

Their emergency crews were nowhere to be found, bodies littered the street here, very recent as their blood was still draining out onto the street.

A combination of civilians and a few IDAP workers along with fifteen EMTs and three officers, most of whom were mutilated. What was worst was that among the dead civilians were even children, fucking children!

He felt the bile rise in his throat looking at this barbaric act, forcing it down he staggered to the nearest ambulance.

Gripping the arrow in his shoulder with his free hand. Grunting, he glanced around as he staggered towards the Ambulance holding his ACP-C2 in his right hand.

The area appeared clear but just in case as he climbed into the Ambulance he shut the rear doors behind him. He'd look around the interior of the Ambulance.

Just as he did so the 'Romans' that had been following him exited the house looking around for him. Some NCO type yelled something to his men pointing down the street with his sword.

They soon filed down the street, still searching to no avail.

Judging it clear he snapped the safety on his ACP-C2 on, before putting it into his jacket holster. He gripped the arrow with both hands, trying to pry it out.

"Hnng, come on you piece of shit…" Gritting his teeth he slowly extracted the arrow from his shoulder.

But the sounds of a pistol being cocked stopped him, turning his head towards the driver's seat area of the ambulance where a Police officer with an injured EMT were currently standing in a slouched manner.

The officer aimed directly at him, his aim seemed to slacken seeing that he wasn't one of the Romans outside.

Miron stared at him, still holding the arrow in his shoulder. "You aren't going to shoot, right? Suck if I was shot down by my own country men…"

The officer looked over to the EMT, before looking back at Miron, lowering his pistol. "Sorry for the scare, we thought you were one of them, the fuckers that caused the mess outside…"

"Understandable in a situation like this, you guys mind helping me out here?" The EMT hesitantly moved from the driver's seat to the rear, examining his wound now.

"You got lucky, if that arrow hit any lower you would have died of blood lose minutes ago, lay down on the stretcher here." He'd guide Miron over, laying him down.

The officer walked over as well, now leaning against the opposite wall facing them. "How does it look out there buddy?"

He took out a worn packet of cigarettes along with a lighter with a faded logo on it, sticking one of the cigarettes in his mouth he ignited the lighter, placing the flame to the end of the cigarette.

"You want the abridged version or the more detailed one?"

The officer let loose a cloud of smoke, looking at him. "How about the one were you can tell me where they came from, that seems like a good place to start."

Miron began to speak, but was cut off as the EMT removed the arrow from his shoulder, gritting his teeth in more pain.

"Damn shit! That hurts..." He'd grunt. The EMT then grabbed a needle of morphine out of his satchel, injecting him in the shoulder to ease the pain.

"Just a few stitches and you will be good to go." Miron looked back over to the officer, inhaling.

"As I was about to say, I was actually there at ground zero when they appeared." The officer's expression became more grave at this information.

"Fuckers just, I don't know how to say it without sounding insane, one moment everything was normal then this, well a giant fucking gate you could say appeared from a flash of bright light, shit was unreal…" As the EMT got to work stitching his shoulder, Miron rubbed his eyes for a moment collecting his thoughts.

"Then the doors opened up, what I swear to god looked like dragons started flying out of the gate followed by their infantry, and even some mythical creatures like uh, pigmen and ogres, their leader was in front and pulled his sword, judging from the way he spoke, I assumed he probably said something along the lines of kill them all because right after he was done talking they charged everyone and gored anyone that wasn't far enough way.."

The officers expression upon hearing this became more grim. "So, that's the score then?"

"Pretty much, right now the RAAF are getting overrun as no one was expecting this shit, hell I even saw a few of the NATO guys eat shit."

Once the EMT was done stitching up Mirons wound, they sat there for a few moments in silence before the officer spoke up.

"I got a call from dispatch a few minutes after all this shit started going down, apparently the Military along with police are holding out in the castle until reinforcements arrive, issue is we are trapped on the other side of the city with little to no guns or people to help and hold out until then."

"I might actually be of some help here…" The officer looked at Miron, curious as to what he could offer.

"During the civil war I was with the FIA, we had some stashes of guns and gear in hiding we never really bothered to clean out after the civil war was over, and we had some caches in Kavala even during the crackdown that CSAT and the AAF did."

"So what you're saying is that you know where to find some gear we can use to hold back the tide until the Military arrives then?" Miron nodded, pointing to the ambulance doors.

"First we will need to move a few blocks then we will be at an old safe house, hopefully it hasn't been cleared out since the war."

The officer looked to the EMT. "You know how to fire a gun buddy?"

The EMT hesitated, before nodding. "I uh, went through some training in the AAF few years ago, I never passed into joining the Military but I handled a rifle along with some smaller arms."

"Good enough, once we are all ready the faster we move the better." The officer un-holstered his pistol, having it lowered.

Miron even with his shoulder patched up felt as though his arm was going to be sluggish, after all he did just take an arrow to his shoulder, that was bound to leave some damage even with the repair work.

Sluggishly he un-holstered his own pistol from his jacket. "I feel up to the task right now, as you said the faster we get going the better." He'd snap the safety off, facing the door.

The EMT, feeling a bit out of place now secured his satchel, inhaling. "This is not how I would have liked my day to have gone…" He'd grumble.

This elicited a grim chuckle from Miron. "Seems we have something in common with that…" And with that, he kicked the ambulance doors open, aiming his pistol outside.

"Come on, the way is clear right now." Miron hopped out of the Ambulance, aiming around further. He was soon joined by the Officer and EMT. The former of which assisted Miron in making sure they were secure.

The EMT was busy trying to not look at the bodies of civilians along with his fellow co-workers. Sadly he saw the children that had been laying around causing him to promptly vomit upon seeing such vial acts committed. The officer in question had a disgusted look on, but to the best of his ability kept his bile from rising.

Miron, still unsettled by it started heading off down the road, towards some ruined police trucks, their hoods having been crushed in by some large heavy object, Miron suspected those ogre's he had seen earlier. The officer and EMT followed in suit.

"Probably a bad time to ask, but we never actually formally introduced each other…" The officer tried to break the uneasy silence that had settled in, well mostly silence as the city air was filled with the sounds of battle as distant gunfights were sporadic along with the occasional blood curdling scream.

Miron aimed his ACP-C2 down a nearby street they were crossing, only to be met with more dead, civilian, first responders and roman with the occasional dead 'demi-human' if mythology served correct for half human half animal hybrids. "Miron.." He'd say in a reserved tone, trying to pick out any nearby sounds that might give away a hostile position. "Kostas." The officer replied in kind. The EMT now more used to the unsettling surroundings spoke up, his voice still quivering from fear at their situation. "Erotas…" He said in a more timid tone.

"Alright, Kotas and Erotas, shame we had to meet under such shit conditions, but it's nice to put a name to a face."

"Suppose so, how much further until we reach this 'safe house' of yours?" The officer, Kostas quiped.

Miron pointed down the street. "Just a bit further, should be coming up on it soo…"

He would have finished that statement, had it not been for the pigman he had seen down the street having his way with a young woman who looked to be in a state of abstract horror.

Her skin showing signs of struggle with multiple lacerations and her forehead having a bad gash across it, what was more unsightly was the fact the pig mans genitalia where shoved within the civilian, who in turn looked to be suffering in both mental and physical anguish, quiet and broken pleas for help were barely audible from the women in question.

What made the situation even worse, was the fact that the women in question was not in fact a women but a young girl in her teens.

Kotas, confused as to why Miron suddenly cut off turned, only for his face to enter shock before a look of unbridled rage crossed his face. His grip on his pistol tightened as he brought it to aim, to which Miron did in turn. Although the question of ethics between the former FIA member and Officer could be debated, they could find common ground on such an atrocious act. In Fact the EMT, Erotas had a look of profound disgust on his face upon seeing.

The two armed men raised their pistols at the beast brutalizing the battered girl, the air was broken by a bark of anger from Miron. "Hey! You fat fuck!" He'd bellow in the pigmans direction, this had its intended effect of it halting its 'pleasuring' session with the woman it was having its way with, laying eyes upon the men that dared to interrupt it.

It shoved the girl off of himself, who in turn landed onto the street and curled up into a ball sobbing uncontrollably. The beasts genitalia waved around as it leaned over grasping a large axe like weapon from the ground next to it, easily dwarfing a small smart car.

It let loose a squeal of anger, beginning to charge at the two armed men, its axe raised above its head.

In response the two men took their aim, namely its head. Kotas then discharged his firearm yelling out "Eat shit!" as his police grade ACP-C2 discharged its rounds at a rapid procession, this was mirrored with Miron who too was also discharging his pistol at the beast head.

The 45. ACP although having a kick to it, was mostly pissing the pigman off, of course the fact that one of its eyes had been hit causing it immense pain on top of being blinded angered it further, the 45. ACP round was lodged in its head, having been stuck in its skull preventing it from entering its brain and killing it.

The pig man howled in anger, its charge becoming faster as it ran at the two armed men. Miron and Kotas dumped their entire mag into the approaching beast to little effect.

It was now meters of them now, rearing its axe up.

Kotas performed a combat roll away from the blow as it struck down, the force of the attack was able to break the asphalt into fragments leaving a small ruined crater. Miron's was busy backpedaling reloading his ACP-C2 when the beast turned its sights to him.

"Hey, hey! Shoot it! It's coming right at me!" He loaded his ACP-C2 once more, just as the beast began another charge in his direction. He pivoted away just as it came at him slamming into a stone support for one of the houses behind him.

The support broke from the pig mans charge, causing the balcony above that was supported by the pillar to break apart, the sounds of the other supports straining was heard as the beast was covered in debris.

Miron raised his ACP-C2 just as a savage sequel came from the rubble, the pigman now covered in dust rose, hefting its axe up once more.

It now had in addition to multiple bullet wounds a large gash on its head, its skull was exposed from this gash, profusely bleeding as the dust irritates the wound.

Kotas now a good distance away raised his pistol up as well, taking aim as the pigman shoved the rubble off of itself. "Jesus Christ, this thing just doesn't give up!" Kotas exclaimed firing off a round at the beast.

The pig man was once more hit, resulting in a more angered screech from it, swinging its axe wildly it bashed the front of what was left of the house tearing the wall down in a cloud of dust.

Miron coughed on the dust cloud, unable to orient himself in the expanding plume of dust.

"I can't see i.." He was cut off as a large porky hand grabbed his torso and flung him into the street.

"GAH! FUCK, SHI.." Miron rolled onto the street, bashing his shoulder and chest. His shirt was now torn up due to skidding against the asphalt, several lasherations were present now as he began to bleed.

A mighty roar was heard as it emerged from the dust cloud, headed straight for Miron, who was currently disoriented.

"NO! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM!" Kotas tried to fire his pistol at the beast head, only for his gun to give him the awful 'Click' sound, empty.

Miron watched in growing terror as the beast approached him. Shakily aiming his ACP C2 at its head, he saw his barrel was horrifically bent due to his little tumble. His mouth opening wide in terror, forming a silent scream as nothing came out.

It roared in delight at finally being in range to kill the pest that had caused it so much annoyance and pain, rearing its axe up it prepared to bring it down on Miron.

Then the sudden crack of a weapon discharge was heard from the rooftops. Namely, that of a Mk14 classic.

A single 7.62x51mm NATO round slammed into the back of the beast head, causing its already battered skull to finally give in, the bullet cracked its skull, entering its head as it then became lodged in its brain.

Its axe veered off course of its intended target, slamming into the ground meters away from Miron, he felt the shock wave from its impact as it cracked the ground. The pig man, now finally lifeless fell onto its side, what was left of its brain was now oozing onto the ground, lumping with the dust creating a muddy mess.

Kotas watched this, keeping his pistol aimed, as the sound of other weapons were heard being cocked from the roofs. Peering up, he saw various men and women in assorted garb aiming down at the pig mans corpse, all armed up.

Down the road the sound of an Offroad technical is heard as the truck comes into sight, with a mounted 50. Cal Machine gun bolted onto its back, aiming over the hood of the truck it slid to a halt.

Miron began to stand up, grasping at his new cuts and bruises. A man dismounted from the technical, walking up towards Miron with a shit eating grin. "No fucking way…" Miron drawled as he looked at the approaching man. His terror now subsiding at the sight of the man.

"Miron, it has been too long brother!" He exclaimed in a jovial like tone, gripping a PDW2000 SMG in his hands.

"Markos Vassas, I thought you finally get yourself killed with your drinking problems, for once I am happy to say I am wrong.." Miron now obtaining a sarcastic tone, but one out of mutual respect to the man walking towards him.

Currently in the background, Erotas along with a volunteer medic were assisting the brutalized young women who the pig man had captured and was having its way with until moments ago.

The men and women on the roofs began to climb down to street level, looking around Miron recognized a few of the faces as former members of the FIA, just like himself. Others had their faces covered in masks and goggles, and others looked to be recently recruited civilians trying to fight back.

Markos approached Miron, giving him a firm pat on the back. "Ah, but that's what you would have wanted, but alas these fuckers ruined my day of drinking on the beach when they rudely decided to break apart my cooler and slaughter some of the tourists I was having a chat with." His voice attained a slightly scornful tone along with his face, but he maintained his mostly jovial tone.

Miron nodded, grasping at his wounds further wincing. "I don't suppose you still happen to carry morphine on you would you?"

Markos chuckled at this. "Ah, like old times." Taking his hand off of Mirons backside, he reached into his chest rig pulling out a needle of morphine, with some slight splatters of blood on it.

Miron choosing not to question why it was covered in blood, injected it into his side into an artery, it stug for a few moments before the pain subsided in his chest. He promptly discarded the needle by tossing it at the corpse of the recently slain beast.

"I take it that you reached the safe house then and that's how you got yourself a posse?" Markos laughed at this. "Still as perceptive as you were back in the civil war, good traits to have in such dire times." Although still having his jovial tone, he darkened a little at the mention of the current situation.

Miron simply nodded, looking around the assembled civilian Militia. "You have a plan to hold out until the Military arrives then?"

Markos nodded. "I see we both had similar ideals in regards to dealing with our current predicament then…" Suddenly one of the militia members with an RAAF camo themed radio pack adorned with a worn PASGT helmet jogged over to Markos with a concerned look on his face.

"Mister Markos, sir.." He began, gaining his attention now.

"Well spit it out son." He gripped his PDW2000 once more facing the young man, his face gaining a more cold expression,

"Word is on the RAAF comms that one of their drones spotted a large number of those 'Roman' bastards making their way in our direction, a little over a Company size…" This elicited murmurs from the militia members to which Markos quieted the group down with his hands.

"Did they specify if it was strictly only the 'Romans' headed this way?" He asked the young militia radio operator. He shook his head gravely.

"They said about ten ogres and fifteen of those pig men things, along with some of those dragon riders, mostly everything else was the 'Romans'." The gathered militia members became gravely quiet, before Markos spoke up.

"We can work this to our advantage, we know this city like the back of our hands, we can set up a kill zone back at the camp…"

Kotas up until this point being quiet spoke up. "Camp, what camp?" Markos turned to the battle worn officer, regarding him with a weary grin. "Why, the IDAP camp we 'liberated' from those 'Roman' bastards of course.." Mirons eyebrow rose up at this. "So you guys secured a beach head then?"

Any further conversation was dissipated as a roar was heard from above them, one of the 'Romans' dragons was currently circling over head, what appeared to be a man in lighter armor than the other romans was riding upon the back of it, a bow in his hands as he fired an arrow down upon the civilian militia members.

The Offroad technical aimed its 50. Cal skywards upon the belligerent, sending skywards a slavo of 50. BMG in the direction of the rider. This had the intended effect of a large splatter of red in the sky as both rider and dragon were pelted with the BMG rounds.

In moments what remained of the rider in his armor along with the now shredded dragon crashed into a nearby building, tearing into the roof leaving a large hole with dust exiting.

The gunner slowly depressed his 50. Cal downwards, having taken care of the 'Roman' contact.

Markos looked boredly at the site of the now dead 'Roman' rider, turning back to the assembled group. "With that, I believe it is time we headed back to camp and prepare our defenses. No doubt our allies have already begun their work."

The group burst into action, some climbing onto the rear bed of the technical while others began legging it down the street in the direction of the camp.

Erotas was finished assisting the volunteer medic with the young girl, loading her into the back of the technical as well, she was now covered in Erotas's jacket as to provide her with some modesty.

They closed the rear flap of the technical, before speeding off Markos jogged back over, sliding over the hood of the truck before grasping the doors handle. Raising his SMG up, he fired three consecutive shots into the air. "I trust that I will see you at our little homestead Miron and co?"

Miron gave him a sarcastic middle finger, to which Markos bellowed in laughter. "Very well, I will see you up ahead brother, glory to Altis!" He yelled finally climbing into the truck. The truck now loaded up did a nine point turn, headed back down the road as the civilian militia members.

Miron Kotas and Erotas now stood in the street, looking off after the retreating militia fighters. "Right, sooner we follow them the sooner we can actually make a difference then…" Miron discarded his now badly bent pistol, hurling it into the wrecked building the pig man had butchered moments ago, it clattered against the debris.

"Alright then, let's get a move on then…" Kotas began to jog after the fleeting Militia fighters, Miron and Erotas following after him as they jogged down the street. Mirons current wounds although numbed still gave him some trouble as he jogged, feeling a lot more out of breath.

After a few minutes of continuous jogging, they arrive at the edge of the IDAP camp which was now fortified, a wall of assorted junk along with a few wrecked cars served as a barrier blocking the street off, a RAAF Mora IFV was sitting on the edge with a group of tired RAAF forces, the Mora's turret was seen to have been bent upwards.

Miron had a feeling of recollection upon seeing the battered IFV, although he made no comment on the spectacle in front of him.

The barrier had a single metal pole extending from the wall of junk, attached to it was a flag, the only uniform looking object in the hastily made wall.

An Altian flag waved proudly tied to the pole, inspiring those wishing to fight on and taunting those that dare to attack the Mediterranean defenders.

Miron Kotas and Erotas finally entered through the checkpoint, greeted weakly by the worn RAAF defenders, some covered in a layer of dust and soot, others had a thin layer of blood on them.

Supporting the RAAF forces were members of the civilian militia that had accompanied Markos earlier, they were less uniform compared to their RAAF counterparts having an assortment of clothing and gear, but they were still a force to be reckoned with, some being former FIA members and others just desperate civilians willing to defend their home.

As they passed entering the camp it was awash with activity. RAAF, Police, NATO, and civilian defenders were moving rapidly amongst the camp alongside a small handful of police and IDAP vehicles along with the occasional machine gun mounted on the back of a civilian pickup truck moved about to various streets to act as a wall for the defenders.

In the centerpiece of the camp was an assortment of IDAP tents and a makeshift helicopter landing pad. Along the perimeter of the camp was a hastily erected defensive wall made up of concrete walls and jersey barriers. Armed Kavalan Police riot officers were patrolling the perimeter of this defensive line along side several NATO and RAAF soldiers. Even further back were several armored riot vans with high pressure water cannons fitted to the top of the vehicles.

Meanwhile on the helicopter pad was a UH-1 Huey with IDAP markings on it, the rear doors were open as a pair of IDAP doctors slid a man on a stretcher into the helicopter, the man's condition looked critical as his head was wrapped up in bandages.

Surrounding the landing pad were a few NATO soldiers that had set up barriers, using both their vehicles and assorted items to provide cover to the currently grounded UH-1.

A group of NATO soldiers was seen keeping a crowd of panicked civilians from boarding the UH-1, some trying to bribe them with cash in an ultimately futile attempt to evacuate.

"This is only for the most critically wounded! If you aren't wounded critically please back away from the helicopter now!" A NATO Officer standing next to an IDAP doctor yelled at the assembled crowd trying to make them disperse.

Miron watched Erotas speaking to some IDAP personal, indicating to his medical satchel. A few moments later he was led off to a tent with a red triangle marking on, two RAAF soldiers with surgical mask stood outside, brandishing their MK20 Bullpup assault rifles.

Meanwhile sporadic gunfire was heard throughout the camp from the different blocked off intersections, already under siege from the 'Romans'.

The most AA capabilities that the camp possessed were a pair of Offroad technicals and a NATO HEMTT Heavy cargo truck outfitted with a AAA Praetorian 1C weapon system linked to a nearby parked AN/MPQ radar trailer which was seen to be tracking an object in the distance. Suddenly the AAA site opened up with a thunderous roar sending red tracers skywards at an unseen target before spooling down.

A pair of NATO technicians, at least Miron assumed they were technicians, were attending to the Praetorian with multiple tools and devices trying to mend the weapon system of some apparent technical difficulty, the occasional loud curse was heard from the pair as sparks were coming out of the access port on the side of the AAA.

As Miron was taking it in, Kotas tapped his shoulder gaining his attention.

"Listen man, I saw some Kavala PD officers head to that roadblock they have set up over there. I'm going to go help them out.." Miron simply nodded, patting the officer on the shoulder. "Thanks again, for your help…"

Kotas gave him a curt nod, beginning to walk off, turning while he walked he called over to Miron. "After all of this shit, find me at Isalos bar, Figure I might as well share a drink with you.."

Miron gave him a thumbs up, grinning slightly. "Perhaps we can exchange 'war stories' eh?"

Kotas shook his shrugged. "Until then I suppose.." He fully turned off, jogging to the road block.

Miron now alone took in the situation, searching for somewhere he could get a change of clothing, and a gun. He knew just the man to ask in regards to those problems.

Walking back to the checkpoint he had come through, he spotted the young man with the radio backpack that had been speaking to Markos back down the street. He was currently fumbling with a Protector (MP5K) SMG, glancing up to the approaching Miron his posture seemed to tense up.

Miron gripped his current wounds, clearing his throat. "Can you direct me to where Mister Markos is…"

The young man, taking his hand off of the front grip pointed in the direction of the tents, a RAAF themed tent in the same model as the IDAP tent was seen with a satellite and small communication mast mounted outside on a Zamak transport truck outfitted for technical work, namely communications. A group of RAAF soldiers along with militiamen set up a sandbag emplacement by the tent's door.

He nodded, turning to leave the young man coughed. "I..think you should get those wounds sorted out, sir.." Miron turned back, regarding him with a bemused smile. "I've had worse back in the civil war.." Before any further conversation he walked off towards the command tent.

Giving the soldiers a curt nod, he stepped inside. Upon entering he spotted a few RAAF MPs along with a few NATO MPs standing guard around the tent while several officer types stood by a large digital screen, currently streaming footage from a drone that was in the air above Kavala.

Miron only recognized one man amongst the officers, that being Markos. The rest were unrecognizable to him.

He had walked in on them having a briefing of sorts directed by the NATO officer. "As we can see, the 'Roman' forces are conglomerating here." He indicated with his finger to the drone footage showing a large group of 'Romans' in a siege formation headed towards the camp.

"They appear to be at the other end road one, while they have forces diverting from their main forces from road one to hit our other checkpoints along roads two, three, and four." While in the corner of the footage showed another large group headed towards the castle.

Lowering his finger he inhaled glancing over to a radio operator before turning back to the other officers.

"I just got off the line with NATO MEDCOM, right now they are diverting the 6th fleet along with Carrier Strike Group 14 to assist in our situation along with the II marine expeditionary force, while the 111th Infantry along with RAAF forces are preparing for a massive counter assault to drive them back."

A RAAF officer raised his hand, his shoulder currently bandaged and his uniform showing signs of battle damage. "So it's a matter of attrition then, we are to hold out until air support softens them up for the reinforcements?"

The NATO officer regarded him for a moment, nodding. "Indeed, it's a bad situation considering our logistics, well our lack thereof…" A few of the officers weakly chuckled at this, the officer continued.

"As such if the situation gets too dicey for our available assets I am going to have our AAA site, Phoenix one, provide heavy suppressing fire only if it comes to that as we are having technical issues with the blasted thing."

Just then an increase in gunfire is heard outside as the drone footage on the camera shifts.

"Alright, the enemy assault seems to be beginning, along roads one, and two." He looked around for a moment.

"You are dismissed until further notice, contact me at frequency 56.1, call sign papa bear." An assortment of nods or vocal agreements came before the officers filed out.

Miron not wishing to stay here any longer less he was called out for being a grunt in the command room attempted to leave with the group, As he was doing so the NATO officer turned to him.

"Markos.." He called over to the former FIA guerilla. "Is this the guy you were talking about earlier?" he pointed at Markos who now felt very naked being the center of attention.

"Yes, this here is Miron Stamatiou, Former Loyalist and FIA guerilla, and one of our best men.." walking over Markos put his arm around Mirons shoulder. The NATO officer looked at them a moment, sighing.

"If he can fight then get him a gun and some gear, we need everyone we can muster right now." Markos gave the officer a cheeky salute with his fingers to which the officer rolled his eyes.

"Get going you two, I have to get back on the line with MEDCOM.." The officer turned back to the radio equipment in the tent, starting to talk to Colonel Armstrong on the CVN USS Freedom about the current situation, who in turn informed NATO MEDCOM of the situation.

"Alright Miron, let's get you geared up.." Markos walked Miron out of the tent, once outside the sound of gunfire had picked up as both infantry and vehicles were firing down their designated streets.

Meanwhile the AAA site was firing tracers into the air as the 'Roman' dragons were seen flying about.

The occasional arrow flew down from on high from the riders which was met with a dose of NATO brand medicine, 20mm tracers to the cranium.

"So, when did you move up in the world to rubbing shoulders with NATO and the RAAF?" Miron asked his former 'officer' in the FIA.

Markos just snickered at his question. "Well you see, when you offer up a militia to a desperate group of soldiers they typically don't ask too many questions when they are in need of firepower."

Not getting an exact answer, he signed being walked over to what appeared to be an armory.

A small group of RAAF soldiers were rearming themselves before jogging off to one of the checkpoints under siege.

Several men were behind the counter, two NATO soldiers and a single RAAF officer. The RAAF officer regarded the two for a moment, motioning them over with a tilt with his head. "Markos, another one of your desperate men in need of some black powder?" The officer said in a sarcastic tone.

"And some armor, if his majesty of the boomsticks wouldn't mind…" Markos regarded him with the same level of sarcasm, the officer snorted before placing a TRG-20 Bullpup assault rifle on the table along with several magazines of 5.56x45mm NATO alongside it. In addition he placed down two RGN mini-frag grenades and a yellow medkit, standard issue practically every infantryman. Finally placing a tactical vest with a Khaki themed camo.

"Well Miron, get geared up and head over to road one, I have several of my men already there along with some of the NATO and RAAF forces, go show them some Altian fury for me, oh and before I forget.." He handed Miron a small radio. "Call me on this if you need me.." He gave him a cheeky grin before walking off.

The RAAF quartermaster looked at the retreating figure of Markos before looking over to Miron.

"You know that bastard?" Miron looked at him tiredly. "You don't know half of it man…" He began to slip on the tactical vest, sliding the RGN grenades into a pocket. Grabbing the 5.56 magazines he slid them into the chest slots for magazines. Gripping the IFAK, he slid it into his vest, behind the ammo. Finally gripping the TRG-20 he checked it over before switching the safety off, keeping the rifle barrel lowered.

The RAAF quartermaster looked him over, nodding. "Give them hell buddy, if you need more ammo don't hesitate to grab some here." Miron gave him a thumbs up, turning on his heel he began to jog towards the road one.

Approaching roadblock three, noticeable details was that on the roofs of the houses surrounding the street two NATO Sniper teams were busy picking off targets in the distance while the occasional arrow flew over landing way off the mark.

A squad sized group of NATO, RAAF, and Militiamen were currently exchanging fire down the street at the 'Roman' forces.

The barrier consisted of an IDAP van and a RAAF strider, their sides facing the street. Several sandbag positions were set up while several Hedgehog tank traps were set up on the road outside the barriers along with a line of razor wire.

A RAAF LMG team was busy setting up a Mk200 in one of the sandbag emplacements, setting up an ammo box next to the LMG they belt fed it 6.5x39mm rounds into the gun. As soon as they had loaded it up the gunner began to open fire down the street. While his assistant gunner continued to feed ammo into the gun.

Miron walked up to a small group of Militia men, just as one of their marksmen with a Mk14, military grade, fired a shot off down the road. A grunt holding a AKS-74U, looked over at Miron waving his hand over in a rally up symbol.

"Come on man, get a target and start shooting!" He turned back, firing off a three round burst from his carbine. Miron went up to the barricade, setting his carbine barrel on the hood of the IDAP van.

Down the street an advancing shield wall was spotted, leading the charge were five ogres currently holding an assortment of large clubs and a recently uprooted telephone pole acting as a club.

They were soon thereafter intercepted by the NATO sniper teams, using their M320 LRR snipers. The .408 Cheetah rounds were not only able to kill them but completely shred their skulls resulting in a spray of gore upon the advancing 'Romans'.

This already has a demoralizing effect on the 'Roman' forces seeing their supposed heavy hitters get absolutely swacked from what appeared to be powerful 'flame magic' from the enemy.

The outcry from the 'Roman' forces could be heard from the barricades, although, no one had any idea what they were saying. "W̷h̶a̶t̵ ̴w̷i̸z̴a̵r̷d̴r̷y̴ ̸i̵s̶ ̶t̸h̸i̶s̷?̵!̵" "I̷s̵ ̴t̸h̸i̷s̷ ̸t̵h̶e̴ ̶w̷r̶a̶t̶h̸ ̶o̴f̶ ̷E̸m̴r̷o̶y̸?̴!̴" "M̵a̵g̴e̶s̷!̶ ̵B̴r̵i̷n̸g̶ ̵o̶u̷t̵ ̷t̷h̶e̸ ̷f̷u̸c̸k̴i̴n̴g̷ ̶m̴a̸g̵e̸s̴!" Regardless of this the assembled NATO, RAAF and militia squad continued to lay down fire upon the slow moving roman forces.

Movement across the 'Romans' ranks were seen as they formed into a different formation. A half formed testudo having front facing shields and one layer of shields facing upwards. All of the suddened a blue light blinded the defenders for a moment.

"What the fuck?!" "You seeing this!?" "Shit my eyes!" Confusion ran out among the defenders as a NATO radioman called it in.

"Papa Bear, Papa Bear! The enemy just blinded half our guys here, we don't know what the hell is going on! Possible flash bangs over!"

The comms crackled a moment as Papa-Bear responded. "Stand by, drone feed cut to static for a momen...what the fuck?!" In the background of the radio, murmurs were heard from the other soldiers in the command tent.

"Sir..SIR! THEY ENEMY HAVE SOME SORT OF FORCE FIELD ADVANCING AT US!" A NATO rifleman yelled out from his position just as a volley of flame arrows pelted down upon the defenders.

Miron regained his vision, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.

The 'Roman' forces were now advancing forwards with a teal blue barrier covering the front of their ranks, any bullets that hit it seemed to bounce off hitting the ground harmlessly.

He had to duck down as the volley of arrows pelted their position, a RAAF solider screamed in pain as the arrow embedded itself into his leg. "AGH! MY LEG!" He fell onto his side, his MK20 hitting the pavement discharging into the air.

"CORPSMEN!" A NATO rifleman called over, before returning fire at the force field. A RAAF soldier with a armband on in the shape of a red triangle dragged the incapacitated man back behind the cover of the Strider.

More arrows began to fall upon the defenders position. "AT SPECIALIST! GET OUT HERE NOW!" The NCO of the NATO soldiers yelled over to one of his subordinates, a AT soldier in a light gear load out went into a kneeling stance, sliding his PMCL launcher off of his backside as he set the missile launcher up, supporting it on his right shoulder.

"Heads up! Clear back blast! Clear back blast!" He aimed the PMCL at the force field.

A few troopers ducked down as the missile roared out of the launcher, it sped off down the street directly towards the blue shield.

The missile slammed into the force field, causing it to flicker out of existence. The pressure from the explosion traveled forwards sending the 'Roman' testudo formation sprawling, to their rear was obviously more 'Romans' but there were several men in robes who appeared to be waving their hands.

"Uh, what the fuck are they doing?!" The assembled squad regained their bearings as the PMCL did its job and took out the force field.

"Hey..HEY! Those fuckers in the robes are doing something!" One of the snipers exclaimed from the roof.

Sure enough the robbed men's hands seemed to be glowing with the same color as the shield moments ago, and in addition to this a fainter shield was seen forming once more.

"Light them the fuck up!" Miron yelled and soon enough the rifle and LMG fire picked up. The 'Roman' forces were in the middle of reforming their shield wall when the bullets started flying, shredding them due to the force field being too weak to hold.

Just as their 'Roman' counterparts, their 'mages' were also reduced to mince meat, now dead the shield cracked, shattering like glass before vanishing.

Soon it was back to the usual with the defenders shredding the 'Romans' advance. But that stunt of theirs had cost the defenders ground as the 'Romans' were able to push closer to their defenses in that time.

Just then the soldiers radio crackled to life. "Papa-Bear here, be advised all ground forces! The enemy seem to be deploying some sort of force field that is preventing our small arms from shredding their ranks! If the enemy deploys additional shields use AT to take them out!" In the background frantic talking was heard from his subordinates.

"Shit man! They don't stop coming!" The RAAF LMG gunner commented as his assistant gunner loaded in a new box of 6.5x39mm.

"Just keep them pinned, ah shit! In the sky, hostile fliers!" A NATO riflemen yelled, aiming his MXC rifle skywards, popping several 6.5x39mm NATO rounds at the 'Roman' fliers.

"SHIT! LOOK OU..!" One of the sniper team members was grabbed by the talons of a low flying dragon. "AGGHHHHHH!" His Mk-I EMR Marksman rifle flew from his hands.

"PHILIP'S! NOOOO!" The remaining sniper team fired upon the dragon. Due to injuring the dragon it released the NATO marksmen from its grasp, the man now plumping to the ground behind the defenders.

"NO! NO SHII.." He was cut off as his fall from six stories as his head connected with the pavement, his light combat helmet doing little to prevent damage as his head cracked open upon hitting the pavement, killing him instantly.

"DAMN IT! PHILIPS IS DOWN! FUCKING ASSHOLES! DIE DAMN IT!" One of the marksmen consumed by anger fired off at the dragon that had killed his subordinate.

Just then, the Praetorian AAA site target locked the dragon sending a stream of 20mm into its body causing it to violently explode in a shower of gore, the rider never even got a chance to cry out as in seconds he was reduced to a pile of meat contained by heavily damaged armor.

The ground shook as the AAA site roared off as 20mm cases flew out of the ejection port, clattering besides the HEMTT, the shells steaming on the pavement.

The Praetorian then aimed off over another street, shredding various other dragons now encroaching on the RAAF/NATO/Militia/IDAP camps airspace.

"Gah! God damn it, I am covered in organs!" One of the militia members was now drenched in dragon blood due to the liquidation of the creature above, moments later bits of meat and armor came clattering to the ground meters behind the barricade.

"Watch it! They are within two hundred meters now!" A NATO grenadier with a MX 3GL loaded in a 40mm rifle grenade, closing the 3GL.

"40 mike mike, out!" A pomph is heard as he fired the under barrel grenade launcher, the 40mm grenade was ejected from the weapon traveling down the street at the 'roman' forces.

The grenade lands behind the front wall of the 'roman' forces as shields and even limbs are shoved outwards. Cries from the 'roman' ranks are heard only for more 'Romans' to fill the gap pushing ever closer to their defenses.

The RAAF LMG team continued to pump 6.5x39mm rounds into the encroaching hoard, before that awful sound of metallic clicking emanated from the now empty chamber.

"Oh shit! No ammo!" The gunner yelled, while his assistant gunner got up from the pillbox position, running back for the armory back in the center of the camp.

The RAAF LMG gunner took out his ACP C2, firing 45. ACP rounds downrange not having a great overall effect due to the mass amount of enemy forces coming down the street at them.

Miron swapped out the current magazine in his rifle, discarding the now empty mag onto the street. Going to his chest rig he took out a fresh magazine, racking his TRG-20 he took aim at what appeared to be the hundredth identical reformed shield wall he had seen.

"God damn! They are going to overrun us at this rate!" Miron called out just as he dropped another shield, only to have the man he shot get replaced with yet another shield barrier.

More arrows began to fall upon their position, this time with more accuracy as to where their positions were. "Shit! Arrows arrows!" The defenders began to duck down as they rained down upon them.

One poor sap, the NATO radio man, received an arrow to his chest while making a dash for cover, thankfully embedded in his Kevlar preventing it from fully entering his chest, but that didn't mean he wasn't injured.

"Damn it! It fucking hurts!" He cried out as the arrow embedded itself into him. Still gripping his MX rifle, he grasped at the arrow with his free hand, trying to rip it out, now limping to cover under arrow fire.

"Don't rip it out! You'll only make it worse!" The same RAAF corpsman that had hauled off the RAAF rifleman from earlier yelled out from behind the IDAP van, before returning to the mounting wounded.

The radio operator ducked down next to Miron, slumping down he coughed in pain. Miron looked over at him, ducking down as a slew of arrows now pelted his position.

The radio operator looked over at Miron with a pain expression, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Man, I wanted a posting somewhere nice, this place sucks…" The Radio operator attempted joked as a means to cope with the situation, attempting to weakly laugh he began to cough in pain as the arrow shifted in his chest.

Miron shook his head, kneeling next to him as he wasn't exactly in a position to open fire. "Could be worse, at least it isn't cooking like it was earlier…"

The NATO radio man looked at him a moment, before weakly shrugging. "True, you're right about that...Patterson by the way...Corporal Patterson Roads.." He coughed out.

"Miron Stamatiou.." He said plainly, going into his vest he took out the IFAK from earlier, laying it out he ripped the top half open.

"You have any morphine man?" He looked at him Miron, his eyes squinting from the pain.

"Yeah, give me a moment here, have to get this chest rig off…" He fiddled with Patterson's Carrier Lite, un-clipping the shoulder straps the upper section of the armor came off but the arrow embedded in his chest prevented him from taking the entirety of his armor off.

"This might hurt for a moment…" Patterson looked up at him, his face registering confusion at his comment. "What might...AGH JESUS! SHIT!" He began to scream as Miron snapped the front part of the arrow, causing it to shift in his chest.

Miron was then able to remove the chest rig entirely, the radio operator now wailing in pain. His uniform was torn around the arrows impact site, his undershirt stained with red.

Patterson was squirming in pain as Miron prepped the morphine. "Hold still here, this should help.."

He located a vein,injecting the needle. It elicited a yelp of pain from the wounded NATO radio operator, Miron then injected the morphine into him, the vial now depleted, he tossed the empty syringe down.

As Miron began to remove the arrow from Patterson's chest, the enemy let loose a savage war cry, just then Patterson's radio pack went off.

In the background of the transmission, the command tent was in a panic as shouting was heard, albeit muffled.

"This is papa bear to all Roadblock call-signs!" The NATO officer came over the radio, his voice now having a layer of panic to it.

"Roadblocks two and one are starting to get overrun! Roadblock three is almost crawling in 'Romans', all forces are to plant charges and fall back to the center defensive position, the Praetorian will cover as many sectors as it can but we don't have long!"

The 'Romans' arrows had started to slacken, most likely indicating that they were preparing for a charge of their defenses.

The remaining NATO sniper teams began to pack up their positions, a few tossing RGN grenades as to soften the forces up to little effect.

"Alright, you heard papa-bear! Get your shit sorted, haul the wounded back and dig in at the center!"

The NATO NCO yelled out to his men, raising his MXC Carbine, he let loose three rounds down range before his men began falling back.

"Shit, Miron can you prop me up here? I need to get moving…" Miron was busy stitching Patterson up.

Miron looked at him a moment, shaking his head. "You're in no good condition to walk, start walking you'll rip open the stitches and you'll just die of blood loss."

The radio operator grunted at this, his eyes squinting. "You're not going to carry me, are you?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Miron spotted a RAAF demolitionist set a satchel charge down next to the IDAP van, setting the explosive charge up.

"I don't think we have much of a choice…" Finishing the stitches, Miron slinged his TRG-20.

He attached Patterson's Carrier Lite back on, inhaling as he gripped his arm to haul him up. The RAAF demolitionist was starting to get up, only for a arrow to go clean through his head, the man staggered a moment, before slumping over onto the street blood forming around him.

Miron grimaced seeing the demolitionist take the arrow through the cranium, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Hauling the NATO radio man in full kit over his shoulders, Miron grunted before he started to follow the retreating RAAF/NATO/Militia forces back to the center of camp.

Over the sounds of war cries on the other side of the barrier, a few more arrows flew over missing Miron, but then a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, then someone started shouting.

"D̷i̴e̸ ̶y̵o̸u̶ ̶f̴u̴c̸k̷i̷n̵g̶ b̶a̸r̸b̸a̶r̶i̶a̴n̵s̶ !" Miron was unable to turn his head as he felt an impact to his rear, where Patterson was currently draped over his shoulders.

Miron staggered forwards, feeling a added weight to his backside as something tried to shove him again.

"Die you fucking bitch!" Patterson yelled, going for his sidearm, he dropped his MX Carbine going for his holstered P07 9x21mm pistol.

The 'roman' that had attacked them had rammed his spear into Patterson's radio pack, the spear now stuck in the pack as the 'roman' tried to remove it.

He was not on the favoring side of luck this day as Patterson wrenched his PO7 from his holster, aiming the pistol at the 'Romans' general area of mass he discharged the pistol into him.

Although he wasn't aiming that accurately the pistols low recoil meant that all bullets met their marks as they collided with the 'Romans' body armor. The first few rounds staggered him, the last few rounds pierced and entered the man's body.

The Romans grasp on the spear came loose as he crumpled to the ground, his armor acting as miniature fountains as blood squirted out of them.

Miron with the adrenaline pumping through his body took off in a full sprint towards the last defensive line as more arrows started to come down.

Meanwhile the Praetorian AAA was doing what it could, checkpoint two had been breached so the turrets barrel was depressed aiming down the street. Once the first few barriers had be shoved aside and the enemy ogre was in view, the Praetorian opened up with its 20mm hell storm as the ogre was torn apart, once it was torn apart the enemies ranks were torn apart as a fine spray of red coated the street and building walls as armor and shields became little more than scrap metal.

The street that the turret had been facing was torn apart under the deluge of 20mm fire, soon enough street two for the moment until enemy reinforcements could plug the gap was clear, the road now covered in all manner of body parts and organs along with the moans and groans of the injured and dying.

The two NATO technicians that had been spotted working on the Praetorian were now gone, barely visible was a patchwork of duct tape and spot welding to prevent it from breaking down.

Miron was approaching the defensive line, consisting of pulled back vehicles, sand bags, HESCO barriers, jersey barriers, anything they could get their hands on they used for defenses.

Meanwhile other retreating forces were now also arriving at the barricades, arrows pelted them as they ran for it. A few soldiers were unlucky enough to take arrows to the backside or even more unlucky enough to receive some to the head.

Those that had been injured were hauled back by their comrades, those that were killed? Sadly left were they lay due to time constraints.

Meanwhile the civilians in the most center of the camp were hunkering down or pleading with the helicopter crew to let them board and leave the soon to be slaughter.

Miron hauled Patterson over the barrier, crouching down behind a Jersey barrier Miron shoved Patterson off of him, panting heavily as the Adrenaline rush died down.

Patterson leaned against the barrier, no longer in pain from his wounds, at most feeling numb, still gripped his PO7.

"Shit, that fucker tried to stab me…" Patterson coughed, checking himself over.

Miron inhaled, looking at him. "Yeah man, holy shit that was intense…"

Patterson ripped off his now ruined radio pack, shoving it against the Jersey barrier. He then inhaled sharply. "I dropped my rifle back there…"

Miron glanced over the barrier towards checkpoint three, sure enough Patterson's MX rifle was laying out on the tarmac.

"I can see it from here, no way in hell I am going to run out there and grab it.." He ducked back down behind the barrier, just then Papa-Bear came in over the radio.

"Stand by, we are doing a controlled det in, ten…"

Miron looked down at his radio, then over to Patterson. "Controlled det in ten seconds.."

Patterson cleared his throat, yelling over to some nearby defenders. "CONTROLLED DET IN TEN SECONDS!" The other soldiers nearby began to duck down behind the barricades.

"Nine...eight...seven…"

The checkpoint barriers began to be toppled over as an enraged 'roman' force pushed their way into the courtyard.

"Six...five...four…"

Checkpoint two's barricades were completely trampled as two ogres had overturned a RAAF Strider that had been serving as the barrier, their legs were tangled in the barbed wire that had been laid out earlier.

"Three...two...one…"

Even with the action going on, with the 'roman' forces finally breaching the perimeter and the Praetorian constantly firing, everything felt deathly still as the count down completed.

"Zero…."

All along the various checkpoints that were now being breached, the satchel charges that had been laid down went up simultaneously.

The first wave of the 'roman' advance that had thought they had finally breached the inner sanctum of the barbarians defensive zone were reduced to mist of red, while others were horrifically maimed.

Those further to back of the advancing force were thrown back as their shield wall formations came undone from the sudden explosions.

The ogre's that had led the charge alongside their demi-human counterparts shared the same fate as their human allies, most of the 'weaker' demi-humans had been reduced to mist while the ogre's leading the charge had various limbs become shredded.

In the moment there after, the defenders rose from their positions, Papa-bear came over the radio again.

"All units, stand by and prepare for their counter assault!" Mirons radio crackled along with everyone else's radio.

Auto-Riflemen, Riflemen, AT specialist, Combat Medics, dedicated machine gunners along with their assistant gunners, standard police, riot officers, and the civilian militia defenders hastily set up their final line of defense.

Through the clearing smoke the war cries of the 'romans' were heard and leading the charge were the mutilated ogres, their eyes filled with blood lust as they savagely charged the defensive position, uncaring of their own health now driving purely on the urge to kill something.

"AT SPECIALIST! PICK YOUR TARGETS!" Someone yelled from the defensive line.

AT Specialist, RAAF, NATO, and civilian militia all took their launchers out, preparing for their attack.

Nearby Miron a RAAF AT specialist leveled his PMCL launcher to a approaching ogre, its stomps shaking the ground as it entered its death charge at the defenders, its large club raised above its head.

"STEADY…!" The same person from before yelled.

The enemy ogres were now within three hundred meters.

"FIRE!" The man yelled the order out.

And with that, a cacophony of Missiles launched from their various launchers, MAAWS, PMCLs, Titan MPRL Compacts, they roared out of their launchers and or recoil-less rifles.

The Ogre that was charging Mirons position had taken the 150mm anti-tank missile to its upper torso, its chest along with most of its neck and lower head were now gone, Miron could see the buildings on the other side of the ogre through the hole in its chest, its momentum halted as it went sprawling into the ground, its club bouncing into the floor as it lost its grip.

This was about the same on all sides of the defensive lines as the monsters had been halted dead in their tracks.

"HOLD STEADY MEN! THAT WAS ONLY THE FIRST BATCH!" The assembled soldiers shaken out of their stupper at seeing the ogres decimated went back to aiming at the multiple breaches in their original defensive line, the smoke was still clearing but the sounds of approaching soldiers was unmistakable.

The Praetorian AAA was still firing rounds, once more facing skywards but it was becoming fast apparent that the situation was becoming too much for it.

The civilian Militia technicals armed with 50. Cals were doing their best trying to clear the air space of the dragon riders but they too were getting overwhelmed now.

"HERE THEY COME!" A NATO grenadier pointed towards the remains of roadblock two, while gun fire began to spark up from all the other sides of the surrounded defenders.

"SHIT! MORE OGRES, LEFT SIDE! LEFT SIDE!" The NATO AT Specialist that Miron had been watching suddenly dashed off to the left side of the fortifications, by now the area was a cacophony of gunfire as anyone and everyone with a gun poured down lead into the enemy's ranks.

Meanwhile the now 'unoccupied' houses began to be filled by 'roman' archers and, dare Miron actually fucking say it, 'Mages'.

Arrows began to rain down on the defenders, but this time the riot police that had been stationed to the back acted as cover from the raining arrows, using their riot shields to cover as many of the defenders as they could.

The arrows bounced off the ballistic shields, the arrow tips broken upon contact. But his was only the beginning as more robed figures appeared besides the archers, raising their hands up what appeared to be balls of fire formed in their hands.

A nearby RAAF rifleman took notice of this, yelling out. "THIS IS SOME DnD SHIT HERE! THEY HAVE FIREBALLS!" He then took aim with his MK20, firing off at the houses.

A NATO rifleman nearby yelled back at this. "THOSE ASSHOLES DIDN'T EVEN ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!" He leveled his MXC, firing off a few rounds at the 'mages'.

Soon enough, more of the defenders began to blanket the houses in a hell storm of lead, cutting down the archers and some of the 'mages' who at this time began to implement smaller shields then what they had been using earlier.

The force shields seemed to just, defect their small arms fire. Soon balls of actual fire rained down on the defenders position.

Upon contact with any surface they detonated, causing an intense heat to radiate outwards, in multiple cases they incinerated anyone or anything they came into contact with.

Miron watched from his side of the barricade as a two man LMG team became engulfed in the fireball, their screams didn't even last a millisecond as the explosion radiated outwards.

Once the damage had cleared, a steaming pair of NATO standard issue boots remained with a heavily charred pants leg standing upwards.

Miron gaged upon seeing this, it was like the stories he had heard about the United States usage of Napalm in Vietnam, how one moment there was someone there then the next it was an expansive wall of flames only leaving charred corpses and sometimes just steaming limbs afterwords.

Miron gripped his TRG-20 tightly, turning out over the top of the jersey barrier he lined up a shot with the mage that had unleashed the fireball.

"Eat this asshole!" He called out as he let loose a three round burst off 5.56.

The rounds traveled outwards, faster than the 'mage' could react as the rounds impacted the side of his skull as he was set on conjuring another fireball, it dissipated in his hands as he fell off the roof, lifeless.

Miron then turned his attention back to the advancing Testudo formations coming in from the different streets, the 'romans' were now advancing upon their position spears pointed outwards from behind their shields.

For every 'roman' the defenders had taken down, another just seemed to replace them as quickly as they went down. The enemy was closing in now at three hundred meters, and soon two hundred meters.

Suddenly a jolt of action came from within the defenders camp, as the rumble of an engine became clear.

Suddenly, on all local comms a new voice filled the radio.

"This is Rolling-Thunder One here, RAAF mechanized infantry, our Mora's turret is fucked but we can still drive, clear the left side of the defensive line…"

Judging from the position the engine sounds were coming from, and the fact it was getting louder Miron and Patterson slowly looked at each other, before Miron grabbed his arm hauling him up.

"Shit shit! Clear away!" Miron hauled Patterson over as the Mora IFV with bent turret appeared from behind a wall of wooden barricades, it multched the barricades rolling out into the plaza.

It's hull read in black spray paint 'Altian Fury' while attached to the back of the turret the steel pole from the checkpoint Miron had entered earlier, the Altian flag flapping as the IFV sped past over the second wall of defenses.

The nearby defenders looked on at that moment, in awe at the war machine charging headlong into the enemy counter assault.

Cries of terror arose from the approaching 'roman' forces as the Mora charged headlong into their ranks.

"H̵O̸L̴Y̷ ̵S̷H̷I̷T̸!̷ ̸I̶T̸S̸ ̸C̵O̶M̸I̶N̸G̶ ̸R̶I̷G̵H̵T̴ ̵A̴T̵ ̷U̸S̷!̸ !"

"H̷O̴W̴ ̵D̷O̸ ̶T̵H̶E̸S̸E̸ ̸B̷A̷R̸B̵A̷R̸I̸A̴N̸S̴ ̶H̴A̷V̶E̵ ̴S̶T̸E̴E̴L̵ ̵E̵L̶E̵P̵H̸A̶N̸T̶S !"

"H̸O̸L̷D̸ ̴F̶A̷S̵T̴ ̸M̵E̶N̷!̴ ̵D̷O̵ ̴N̷O̷T̵ ̷R̸E̸T̵R̶E̶A̸T̴!̴ ̶A̷N̵Y̶ ̶W̸H̴O̶ ̸R̵E̴T̸R̷E̴A̴T̴ ̴S̷H̷A̴L̵L̶ ̷B̶E̴ ̸E̵X̸E̷C̴U̴T̸E̶D̴ ̸B̷Y̶ ̸M̸Y̸ ̸H̴A̶N̷D!"

"I̷T̵S̶ ̶H̸O̴P̷E̷L̷E̵S̸S̴!̵ ̴T̸H̵E̵ ̸B̴A̵R̶B̴A̷R̸I̷A̷N̵S̸ ̴W̸I̴L̸L̴ ̸K̴I̸L̷L̸ ̷U̷S̸ ̸A̶L̶L!"

Parts of the Testudo formations began to become undone as men dropped their shields and ran, terror in their eyes. Some of the 'roman' officers yelled to the archers, pointing their swords at those who ran.

Arrows began to pelt down on the running forces, even in this madness the RAAF Mora continued its headlong charge into the 'roman' ranks.

Its treds became slick with blood and guts as it drove around the 'roman' ranks, crushing all that it came upon.

"Rolling-Thunder, Rolling-Thunder, pull back! I say again pull back!" Papa-Bear came over the radio. "The enemy is bringing in more hostile heavy hitters! If you encounter one of their ogres you are fucked!"

Just then, near the praetorian AAA battery, the side of a nearby house collapsed in as an ogre with multiple 30mm holes in its chest charged headlong out of the ruined house, roaring a mighty war cry as it slammed into the side of the HEMTT, causing the heavy cargo truck to flip onto its side.

Its windshield cracked on impact, but worse of all the already malfunctioning praetorian 1C AAA gun battery slammed into the ground.

Because of how the praetorian's barrel was aimed at the time of the flipping it caused the barrel to slam right into the asphalt, the barrel bent upwards, as the gun still fired causing the 20mm rounds to hit into the now bent barrel, the 20mm blunt impact into the warped barrel caused it to spew out a explosion sending 20mm fragments and the barrel into the surrounding area.

The defenders on that side had to duck down as 20mm fragments pelted the barricade, several riot officers using their shields for cover were sadly hit, resulting in the loss of their limbs or even more tragically their lives

"HOLY SHIT! STAY THE FUCK DOWN! THE PRAETORIAN IS FUCKED! I SAY AGAIN AAA IS DOWN!" A RAAF Radio operator on that side of the defensive wall yelled into his radio.

"This is Rolling-Thunder, we can intercept that ogre before it can line back its way to the defensive wall, how copy Papa-Bear…"

The ogre meanwhile was turning its attention towards the human defensive wall, raising its club above its head roaring over the cooking off 20mm rounds.

"Papa-Bear! Papa-Bear! We can't engage it with those 20mm rounds flying over our head! Our AT Specialists are suppressed!" The same RAAF radio operator yelled into his comms pack.

At first static came over the radio, before Papa-Bear spoke. "Rolling-Thunder, fucking...engage at will…" His voice was grave, feeling he just ordered those men into a suicide mission when he could have ordered them to pull back.

"Solid Copy Papa-Bear, Rolling-Thunder moving to engage…" The Mora exited the mulched 'roman' formation as they scrambled to fix the gaps in their lines.

The Mora then charged the ogre as it was charging the defensive line, it seemed to have developed tunnel vision as it raced towards the terrified human defenders, its grotesque face forming only what could be described as a savage smile.

Then, just as the Mora was about to slam into the ogre's side, the driver laid down on the horn causing it to look over little too late as the full force of the charging Mora slammed into them.

The ogre, staggered off course, not colliding with the defenders position. Its side appeared to be caved in from the blow, resulting in the ogre wailing in pain before turning to face the aggressor.

The ogre eyed the 'metal elephant' in front of it, recognizing it as the one that had caused it some annoyance from earlier, having bent its snout injuring it as revenge.

The RAAF crew, in turn recognized the bastard that ruined their prized Mora, having been in service with it all the way back to the NATO invasion of Altis a year ago, to say they were pissed about the ruination of their beloved Mora was an understatement.

Neither combatant moved for a few moments, the Mora's engine revving while the ogre panted heavily from the damage it had sustained.

Although the crew wasn't exactly looking at it with their eyes, the ogres eyes were drawn to the Mora's camera system almost like it knew it was being watched from them, you could say their eyes met with a fierce intensity even if neither of them were directly looking at each other.

The ogres glare strong enough to melt concrete while the RAAF Crews glares combined was heated enough to melt steel beams.

"This is Rolling-Thunder, wish us luck, out…" With that the Mora charged towards the ogre who's roar shook the very ground as it too rushed the IFV.

The two sped towards each other, under minor 20mm fire and the occasional arrow and fireball.

They met head on, the ogre slamming into the Mora. The IFVs kinetic force rammed headlong into the ogres torso breaking some of its ribs.

The Mora suffered damage to its hull, but was still in fighting condition as it reversed before the ogre could grasp the IFV.

The IFV swerved to the left, speeding into the turn on its treds as the ogre began to reorient itself after the attack by the Mora.

The IFV slammed into the ogres side, causing the large beast to fall onto its side in pain, letting loose yet another roar its hand managed to snag the Mora's left tred, jerking its hand back it was able to completely shred the Mora's left track.

Unfortunately for the ogre though, it was still pinned under the Mora's weight which it was realizing it didn't have the energy to shove it off.

Thinking quickly, both the gunner and commander turned out of the IFV, their MK20s in hand as they aimed down at the ogre pinned below their Mora.

"THIS IS FOR FUCKING WITH OUR MORA ASSHOLE!" The gunner yelled as he sprayed the MK20 into the ogres head.

The commander followed suit, letting his MK20 on full auto as he mag dumped into the ogres head. Now usually such small arms fire would just injure it, but these weren't normal 5.56x45mmm NATO rounds, they were AP tipped 5.56x45mm NATO rounds.

The rounds shredded into the ogres skull, quickly shattering its thick skull and entering its brain causing it to die virtually on impact.

The Mora crew was now currently stranded in the center of the battlefield, because they had killed the 'Romans' ogre more attention was now brought to them as the 'Romans' moved in to eliminate them.

More and more arrows began to ping off the Moras armor as the archers took aim at the two exposed crew members, they promptly slid back within the excesses of their armored vehicle, locking the hatch as they descended into the relative safety of the IFV.

A few of the 'roman' mages began casting their 'fireballs' at the IFV, burning the hull of the IFV leaving blackened marks.

Melting the armor to an extent? yes.

Breaching the armor on the other hand? No.

Due to the success of 'Rolling-Thunder' the defenders were able to reorganize their defenses as the main threat to breaching the line had been taken care of, they were able to apply more fire power against the infantry units.

But as the 'Romans' reformed their formations after the Moras deadly incursion into their ranks, a horrid sight was unfolding for the defenders as some of the 'roman' spears were raised skywards, impaled upon them corpses.

Alitan Military Personnel, NATO Personnel, civilians, police and worse of all, children, it seemed to matter little who they had impaled upon their spears, only that it was one of their own as to taunt the defenders.

The enemy was now jeering at them as they waved the corpses of their comrades and countrymen about, a small group of pig men demi-humans were not only dismembering the corpses, but even more horrifically they were devouring them as well.

The air was filled with the enemies jeers in their unknown language.

"T̷h̸e̶i̶r̴ ̸s̷t̵e̶e̶l̶ ̵e̴l̵e̶p̴h̷a̴n̷t̸ ̸i̸s̵ ̶d̴a̷m̷a̷g̵e̸d̶!̷ ̷P̴r̸e̴s̴s̶ ̶t̷h̶e̸ ̵a̷s̴s̴a̷u̵l̸t̵!" The attackers began to advance upon the defensive line once more.

"W̶e̷ ̶h̸a̴v̴e̸ ̸t̵h̸e̴m̴ ̴s̶u̵r̷r̸o̸u̸n̸d̶e̴d̶ ̶n̴o̷w̴!" They drew out their spears, pointed outwards towards the defenders as they marched.

"S̵t̵a̴c̴k̵ ̷t̵h̸e̴i̸r̸ ̶c̷o̸r̴p̶s̷e̸s̷ ̴h̵i̷g̸h̴!̸ ̸L̸e̷a̸v̵e̸ ̸n̸o̷n̶e̴ ̴o̷f̵ ̴t̶h̵e̶ ̷m̶e̴n̸ ̴a̴l̶i̵v̴e̵!" The defenders were quick to try and fill the gaps in their defensive line as the enemy prepared for another push.

"E̶v̷e̷n̶ ̵w̸i̵t̵h̸ ̸t̸h̷e̴i̶r̵ ̴f̵l̸a̸m̵e̷ ̵m̸a̴g̷i̶c̶ ̵t̷h̴e̶y̸ ̴w̷o̵n̶'̸t̴ ̸s̷t̴a̷n̶d̵ ̷a̶ ̷c̴h̴a̶n̷c̴e̷ ̴a̸g̶a̸i̴n̸s̸t̵ ̴t̶h̷e̷ ̷E̶m̴p̵i̴r̴e̸s̴ ̷m̷i̷g̷h̶t̷ !" Miron gulped, switching his rifle from semi automatic to full auto.

"T̶h̶e̵s̸e̴ ̵b̴a̵r̵b̵a̴r̸i̶a̵n̶s̶ ̷d̷o̶n̶'̸t̸ ̷e̸v̸e̶n̵ ̶d̶e̶s̶e̶r̷v̸e̸ ̶t̵o̴ ̵b̷e̶ ̴c̸o̸n̷q̶u̵e̷r̵e̸d̵,̸ ̸s̴l̴a̶u̸g̶h̷t̷e̷r̸ ̷t̷h̵e̵m̴ ̵f̶o̸r̸ ̴t̸h̶e̸ ̵d̷e̴a̴t̶h̷s̷ ̵o̴f̸ ̸o̶u̶r̶ ̶c̷o̴m̴r̷a̶d̷e̴s!" Paterson ejected the spent magazine in his pistol, sliding in a new one as the enemy closed in further.

They reformed their testudo formation, then once more the blinding light of their force fields covered the area in front of their formation, more of their archers and mages were now on the rooftops, pelting arrows and fireballs down upon the defenders who were now fighting tooth and nail.

Miron and Patterson had begun firing as soon as the enemy had closed in, Miron was in the process of emptying his magazine into the force field while Patterson was busy firing off at a nearby 'Roman' that had decided to be a bit more ambitious and charge their defensive line with no support.

"This is it, isn't it?" Patterson asked remorsefully as capped the approaching 'roman', his head violently jerking back before collapsing to the ground.

"What are you on about?" Miron asked in a strained voice as he racked his carbine.

Patterson ducked down, wiping his forehead of the accumulating sweat, looking over to Miron he spoke once more. "We are about to be overrun by a bunch of fucking 'Romans' wannabees with outdated gear and we don't have the fire support to take them down…" He aimed the pistol over the barrier as another salvo of fireballs impacted the grounds in front of them.

"If it is, we go down standing, lest we not take as many of these assholes with us!" Miron leaned out from his cover, firing off a five round burst at the shields.

Another rocket slammed into one section of the force field, breaching their force field cover for a moment before it was quickly plugged up once more by additional 'mages'.

Their radios crackled as Papa-Bear came on the radio once more, his voice sounded panicked as the background audio was filled with gunfire and panicked screaming from civilians.

"The situation is FUBAR! We are loading what civilians we can into the UH-1!." He inhaled sharply, trying to fill his lungs with air as to complete the entirety of his message.

"NATO MEDCOM said reinforcements are on their way, until then fight tooth and nail for every inch these fuckers take! Deny them any victory! Hold out until our reinforcements arrive or die trying!" The sound of a pistol being cocked was heard over the radio before it went silent.

The radio was once more filled with men calling for support on certain sections of the defensive line.

Miron ducked back down after firing off the five round burst, looking once more over to Patterson, a grim expression on his face.

"You might actually have a point though…" He gripped his TRG-20 tighter now at the thought this was how they were going to go out.

Patterson held his PO7, panting as he primed a RGN Frag Grenade. "Well as you said man, we go out standing up…" He went out of the cover of the barrier, hurling the RGN over their force field before ducking back down as to avoid their retaliatory arrows.

A moment later the grenade went off behind their lines, a small spray of red was seen going up after the explosive went off.

The enemy was now within a hundred meters, their spears were getting far too close for comfort. Grenadiers were doing what they could firing off the last of their 40mm grenades over their force field to try and thin their ranks, ultimately they were largely unsuccessful as they just kept coming.

Nearby an RAAF auto-rifle man was hip firing his MK200 into the shield wall, his eyes had bags formed under them while his face was twisted into a look of pure rage, he didn't give up the unrelenting wall of fire into their force field.

"Die motherfuckers! Die, DIE!" He yelled as he was able to overpower their force field through brute firepower, a visceral spray of red emerged as the rounds completely shredding this one section of the 'roman' ranks.

He continued to fire until his MK200 ran out of ammo, just as a 'roman' legionary with a short sword charged him, screaming bloody murder.

Just as the legionary swung his sword in a chopping swing, the auto-rifle man used the LMGs barrel to parry his attack, glancing off the slash.

Sparks flew as the sword connected against the MK200, both combatants glared into each others eyes with equal if perhaps not greater anger.

The auto-rifle man yelled in Greek at the man, an insult calling his mother a pig and his father a bastard as he slammed his boot into the mas torso staggering him away.

He then raised the stock of his LMG, ramming it into the man's face, an audible wet snap was heard once the stock hit him.

The legionary staggered back, clutching his face with his free hand as the auto-rifle man pulled his ACP C2 from his holster with his left hand, while his right clutched the MK200's grip with his right hand.

The Legionary gripped his sword once more, his nose now profusely bleeding as he yelled something at the RAAF Auto-Rifleman.

"Y̵o̶u̸ ̷w̸i̶l̷l̴ ̵p̴a̴y̴ ̸f̷o̷r̸ ̸y̵o̸u̸r̷ ̸i̵n̴s̵o̴l̶e̶n̷c̸e̷ ̷y̸o̵u̶ ̷f̷u̴c̴k̵i̷n̸g̴ ̵p̶e̸a̸s̶a̸nt!" He raised his sword above his head just as the auto-rifle man drew his ACP C2.

Miron began to shift his aim over to the two men, racking his TRG-20 he tried to take aim at the 'Romans' chest only for the man to attempt another lunge at the Auto-Rifleman, putting the RAAF soldier in the way of his aim.

"Shit…" He attempted to find another angle at which he could fire at the 'roman', but before he could do so the Auto-Rifleman managed to get a shot off at the 'roman' with his pistol, grazing his side just as he had lunged.

The Auto-Rifleman had his back faced to Miron now, the 'roman' to his front now within the defensive line position.

"Have at it then!" The man yelled as he took another step back as the 'roman' did another slash with his sword.

He disposed of his MK200 as it would prove to hinder him in this life or death situation here, resorting solely to his ACP C2, unable to properly aim due to the way in which the 'roman' was advancing at him he could only do hip shots at the man.

The 'roman' did another slash at him, barely missing the man's neck but able to at the very least graze it, the swordsman began to grin madly seeing the light wound he had inflicted.

"W̵h̴a̴t̵s̷ ̴t̸h̴e̷ ̶m̵a̵t̷t̸e̶r̶ ̵b̷a̸r̸b̸a̴r̵i̴a̶n̸? ̴ ̴C̷a̴n̸'̶t̸ ̷h̸a̵n̵d̶l̵e̵ ̶a̶ ̴d̵e̴d̵i̴c̵a̷t̷e̷d̵ ̷s̴w̸o̶r̸d̷s̴m̴a̷n̸ ̵s̵u̷c̷h̵ ̶a̷s̸ ̴m̷y̷ ̴s̵e̷l̴f̴!" He seemed to mock the Auto-Rifleman, taking another swing at him with his sword.

"H̷o̸w̵ ̷a̸b̴o̸u̷t̷ ̶y̶o̷u̵ ̷j̸u̵s̶t̵ ̷d̸i̵e̶ ̵a̴l̸r̸e̴a̵d̵y̴ ̵a̵n̴d̶ ̴m̵a̷k̸e̸ ̶y̸o̶u̴r̷ ̷f̷a̴t̶e̴ ̶c̷o̷m̸e̵ ̸f̷a̵s̴t̵e̸r̴!" He took another swing at the Auto-Rifleman, aiming for his sides, the blow looked like it would surely connect.

At that moment the Auto-Rifleman ducked down just as the blade passed over him, the sound of the sword being swung passed over as it sliced the air. The Auto-Rifleman having a moment raised the pistol to aim at the 'Romans' lower region.

"Checkmate asshole…" He said out of breath, firing the 45. ACP round into the man's groin, the armor plating around his lower region did not hold as the round connected with the armor.

The 'roman' at that moment was processing what had just happened as a mind numbing pain racked his body, he felt what was possibly left of his family jewels become shredded by the 'barbarians' flame magic.

The 'roman' screamed in anguish as he collapsed onto his backside, his hands no longer gripping his blade as he rolled around, tears streaming from his eyes from the pain he was currently experiencing.

The Auto-Rifleman, now standing once more aimed down at the 'Romans' head, deciding now was a good time to rip off a line from a movie he once saw. "Welcome to earth…"

He fired the bullet into the man's exposed head, the 45. ACP entered his skull, and the 'romans' pain was the last thing he'd ever feel as he passed on from this mortal coil, his now fractured head seeped out freshly spilled blood, pooling onto the asphalt beneath him.

The Auto-Rifleman lowered his pistol, a look of smug content on his face, like he had just done a great deed.

His moment of glory was cut short as a 'roman' shield bearer armed with a spear charged him, screaming an angered war cry taking the man off guard his spear entered the man's upper torso, ripping apart the Auto-Rifleman's lungs.

Miron was able to fire into the spear man's side as he impaled the RAAF Auto-Rifleman, wincing at the horrid fate that befell the man.

The spear man collapsed as his internal organs were shredded from the bullet, his shield falling from his hands, the Auto-Rifleman in turn also collapsed as his lungs filled with blood and he drowned on his own bodily fluids.

Miron turned his attention back to the fast closing shield wall, firing more rounds into the weakened force field and the now to close for comfort 'Romans'.

"Shit..shit..shit!" Patterson yelled as he fired into a roman legionary that had climbed over their barricade, dropping the man as the 9x21mm round entered the legionaries skull.

Miron fired off another three round burst at the advancing shield wall, he looked up towards the roofs for a brief moment tensing up as he spotted a fireball being hurled in his direction.

He dived out of the way of the fireball, narrowly avoiding becoming vaporized. It flew over him slamming into an unarmed strider causing its side door to dent inwards as the explosion rocked the ground.

"This is getting out of hand here! We can't possibly hold for much longer!" Miron yelled over to patterson, firing from his grounded position into a group of 'Romans' as they climbed over the defensive barrier, they were now within the camps perimeter.

Patterson fired off his pistol once more moving over to the downed Miron, he grasped his forearm hauling him up to his feet.

"Doesn't matter, we hold the goddamn line until our reinforcements arrive!" He responded as he fired into a legionary that had vaulted over a nearby box, only for two more legionaries to breach their position.

Miron saw a nearby NATO rifleman with a M9 bayonet fixed to the end of his rifle, battling off a legionary with a sword, sparks were flying as the two blades met each other.

The rifleman was able to shove the legionary back far enough where he was able to fire into the man's torso, only to be ganged up on by three more legionaries.

He was able to take down one with his rifle before the other two slashed at his chest, one ripping his armor apart the other slicing into his chest.

Miron once more on his feet had his back to Patterson, who in turn had his back to Miron. The two of them fired into the oncoming wall of 'roman' legionaries in a final gambit.

While emptying their magazines into the enemy force they moved back further into the camp where the other soldiers weren't fairing much better.

It wasn't a matter of the enemy being tough, they were slaughtering the enemy far more than the enemy was killing them, the problem was from the fact that they didn't have enough men or vehicles for the combined arms doctrine to work here.

In the center of the camp the civilian aid workers along with civilians were huddled behind a wall of riot shields, the soldiers were now falling back behind the police riot shields, firing over the officers shoulders into the hoard.

Meanwhile the IDAP UH-1 was now taking off, the interior appeared to be completely filled with civilians, mostly women and children along with the injured.

The two Technicals were split between firing into the oncoming hordes, and the other trying to clear the skies above the camp to little avail, just as the UH-1 was hovering above the camp ten dragon riders came in towards the Huey.

Miron watched in horror as the technical was only able to take down five of them, the other dragons were able to close the gap as one clawed at the rear propeller of the Huey.

The dragon's talon hit the propeller, injuring the dragon in the process as a screech emanated from it as the creature lurched back away from the helicopter.

The tail rotor began to smoke as the UH-1 desperately flew away from the camp the dragons close on its rear.

"Guess this is it then…" Miron fired the last round from his magazine into a legionary armed with a pike, taking the man's head off, Patterson still firing his PO7 off at another shield barrier, his 9x21mm rounds unable to pierce the shield.

"Guess s…" Just as Patterson began to speak, a roar filled the air. But not a roar from any creature, more like the roar of a 20mm cannon.

The 'Romans' halted in their tracks, unsure what in the name of Emroy that sound could belong to, it certainly wasn't any of theirs.

Another loud more deep roar followed as a jet flew over, a NATO jet, an F/A-181 Black Wasp to be exact having US Naval markings on it.

Then, red mist rained down from above, followed by pieces of armor, dragon rider armor…

The screech of a dragon was audible for a moment, before yet another of the same 'lighter' roar was heard from another 20mm cannon, then another Black Wasp flew over, followed by two more.

The 'romans' were stunned at this, unsure what these new arrivals were. But the defenders knew full well what they were and a mighty cheer came from the defenders as this could only mean one thing.

Reinforcements.

Overhead missiles and 20mm red tracer fire began to dominate the sky as dragon rider after dragon rider became red mist from the NATO air superiority fighters.

The 'Romans' upon seeing such a display began to panic, even if their victory over the 'barbarians', their organization began to fray.

"B̷.̵.̵.̶b̵y̷ ̵t̸h̷e̶ ̶g̵o̶d̶s̸!̴ ̴W̸h̷a̴t̷ ̵i̶s̶ ̸t̵h̴i̸s̷!" The legionaries began to freak out giving the defenders a chance to regroup.

"T̸h̸e̴ ̷g̵o̴d̴s̷?̴!̵ ̷I̵s̵ ̶t̷h̸i̶s̴ ̸t̶h̴e̶i̶r̴ ̷d̶o̴i̶n̴g̷!̶" The legionaries formations began to break as yet again their soldiers moral pumpleted upon seeing these new unknown constructs attack the mighty Wyvern corps of the Empire and absolutely decimate them in the process.

"W̸h̷a̸t̶ ̸i̷n̵ ̶t̴h̷e̴ ̸n̷a̶m̷e̶ ̸o̷f̴ ̸t̸h̴e̵ ̶g̶o̸d̷s̶ ̸a̸r̷e̵ ̸t̷h̵o̸s̶e̵!̴ ̴O̷v̸e̸r̷ ̸t̷h̶e̵ ̷h̵i̸l̶l̶s̷!̷ ̶M̷o̷r̵e̷ ̴f̷l̸y̵i̸n̸g̶ ̵b̴e̴a̷s̶t̸!" In the distance, the outline of two fixed wing aircraft were seen coming over the ridge line.

RAAF first squadron A-143 Buzzards armed with GBUs roared over head on their way towards the distant castle on the other side of the city, freaking the legionaries out even more, the mages were in a out-roar upon seeing the constructions, babbling something about feeling no magic from these flying 'golems'.

Distantly the sound of two thunderous explosions are heard, followed by large plums of dust sent into the air a shock wave traveled over as the two flying 'golems' sped off in two separate directions over the city.

Meanwhile the flying 'golems' of grey were seen flying in formation over the city towards the small port that the recognizance legionaries had reported, firing off what appeared to be balls of light as they flew off.

Then, more of those flying golems came in over the hills, only these ones seemed to be associated with the grey golems from before.

Unknown to the forces of the Empire, the two 'golems' flying over the hill line were actually NATO A-164 Wipeouts, the modern day variant of the famous A-10 Warthog that had served the American armed forces in the early 2000s.

They descended upon the city, and much to the horror of the Empires forces directly towards them, the lead 'golem' came charging towards their position when a much louder thunderous roar emanated from the beast 30mm cannon.

In a matter of moments entire Platoons of men were vaporized by the 30mm cannon, erupting into clouds of dust and red mist.

The houses and rear lines were the archers and mages were positioned fared just as bad as the Wipeout laid down its cannon into the surrounding buildings causing multiple collapses of the urban structures.

The lead A-164 roared over, while the second A-164 fired off a few unguided Shrieker HE rockets into the largely clustered company sized force, taking with them several siege weapons that the 'Romans' had been moving towards the defenders position.

The two A-164s circled over head, their objective mostly done they now provided Arial reconicance for the assault helicopter battalion, consisting of several WY-55 Hellcat's along with AH-9 Pawnee's, armed up with two M134 Mini-guns alongside two DAR Rocket pods, both of them being mounted on each side of the helicopters.

The side doors on the Hellcat's were open as RAAF soldiers were seen leaning out, or sitting on the edge of the helicopters, rifles in hand as they approached the under-sieged camp.

The NATO Pawnee's first flew over the camp deploying flares as they passed over, and for a brief moment Miron thought he saw one of the pilots wave to the defenders before heading deeper into the city as they engaged targets left and right.

Papa-Bear came over the radios, his voice sounding less strained than it was in his last broadcast. "I have just been alerted that a joint RAAF/NATO force has finally entered the city, the RAAF wanted to notify me that all forces 'stay' within the camps perimeter as they try to alleviate pressure on our position…"

The sounds of someone speaking Greek over another radio were heard in the background and just before Papa-Bear was about to speak again he was drowned out by the Hellcats opening fire with their dual mini-guns or rocket systems

Two of the Hellcats circled the streets surrounding the camp, titling to the sides as to allow their passengers the chance to open fire onto the streets below. Miron watched as dozens of muzzle flashes exited the side doors of the Helicopters, vaguely making out the occupants firing the weapons.

Meanwhile the now heavily battered and demoralized 'roman' forces having been subjected to both rocket and 30mm fire were now being battered by the Hellcats weapon systems as more bullets and rockets descended upon them.

The 'Romans' that had been able to breach the final defensive wall were safe from the helicopters wrath, what they were not safe from were the now heavily re-moralized defenders who felt that now was the time to actually strike back.

The riot officers formed their own Testudo formation around the 'Romans' within the camp, within moments the enemy invaders were beaten down by an angry mob of policemen before being sprayed down by the water cannons mounted on some of the remaining police vans.

"Detain them at once! Secure their weapons and if they resist don't hesitate to use brutal force!" One of the riot officers yelled to his fellow officers, he swiftly brought his batten down on a 'roman' legionary, the baton slamming into the side of the man's face.

The 'roman' went sprawling, a tooth and a gob of blood flying out of his mouth as he fell to the ground. The officer kicked away the legionaries sword, it clattered against a concrete barrier meters away.

Before long, two other officers were beating the legionnaire with their batons 'subduing' him. After which they then dragged the beaten man back behind the shield wall to detain him, along with several other recently acquired prisoners.

After the brutal beatings of the now prisoners they were detained by several other riot officers, assisted alongside by normal uniformed police and several RAAF personnel. The newly acquired prisoners were hauled further into the camp where they were then watched by several armed guards.

With the interior of the camp now secure, the riot officers pushed outwards towards the 'roman' forces, the RAAF and NATO soldiers close behind them alongside several police riot control vehicles with their mounted water cannons.

The high pressure water cannons doused what little attackers remained that weren't currently running for their lives from the RAAF air assault, breaking what little formation was left in their lines, with the camp secure the defenders retook their positions along the edge of the camp awaiting for the RAAF air assault to cease before they took any further action.

"B̷y̸ ̸t̸h̷e̴ ̷g̵o̶d̵s̶!̴ ̸I̸ ̶c̸a̸n̶'̶t̶ ̴t̴a̴k̶e̴ ̸i̸t̷ ̸a̵n̸y̷m̷o̸r̴e̷,̷ ̸r̷u̴n̶ ̷f̶o̸r̷ ̵y̷o̵u̵r̴ ̷l̸i̸v̷e̸s̷!̵" A nearby 'roman' officer yelled to his men, his face was etched with utter terror despair as he took off on his horse down the street, only for his head to violently erupt from a stray bullet.

"F̶i̸r̸s̶t̴ ̵t̴h̸e̷y̸ ̷u̸s̵e̸d̷ ̵f̷l̶a̴m̸e̵ ̶m̴a̴g̵i̴c̵,̴ ̸n̸o̸w̵ ̸t̵h̴e̴y̷ ̴c̸o̴m̷m̶a̸n̴d̷ ̸s̴t̸e̷e̸l̵ ̷P̸e̷g̴a̷s̵u̶s̴ ̷a̵n̸d̶ ̸w̶a̶t̴e̸r̷ ̴m̸a̷g̶i̴c̸?̴!̵ ̸W̴e̸ ̷a̸r̷e̴ ̶d̵o̵o̷m̶e̶d̵!" Another officer began to wail in despair, his men either dead or fleeing for their lives as the RAAF air support mopped them up.

As the 'roman' forces began to retreat, those wounded from the attack were left begging for mercy in their own language. One of the legionaries, trying to run with his allies, had taken a round to the lower leg, causing him to collapse. Within moments he was swarmed by RAAF forces. He was in pain, rolling onto his backside. He saw the men in green and blue aiming their staff's at him, he was utterly terrified at the prospect of what they'd do to him. "N̷o̷ ̶p̵l̴e̵a̶s̷e̸!̴ ̸D̷o̶n̴'̴t̵ ̵k̸i̵l̴l̷ ̸m̸e̴!̴ ̶I̵ ̵d̷o̵n̷'̴t̸ ̸w̸a̴n̵t̶ ̴t̷o̵ ̶d̷i̵e̶ ̶p̵l̷e̴a̷s̴e̵!̸" He yelled in terror, his arms covering his head as a five man RAAF rifle team along with a few police officers aimed down at the wounded man.

"Hey, we don't speak to your lingo you fucking Roman." A Kavalan Police officer standing next to the RAAF rifle-team spoke, having his police grade ACP C2 aimed down at the man.

"Should we rough him up a bit more?" One of the riflemen commented, his MK20 shifted in his hands as he aimed down at the man's head.

"You'll hear no complaints from me, I saw this asshole skewered our Sergeant earlier, I say we get some payback for it. " another one of the RAAF riflemen commented, flicking his rifle from safety to semi-automatic.

"Fuck this, I am not having any war crimes committed under my command today." One of the riflemen holding the rank of corporal forcefully lowered the rifleman's MK20 as to avoid any 'misfires' that may occur directed towards the 'legionary'.

"Last thing we need are those 'UN observers' to find out and send in their forces due to our negligence at following the Geneva convention…"

One of the men scoffed shaking his head, he muttered under his breath. "We already have enough issues with the shit that went down in Oreokastro under the last regime, the last thing we need is to add on to that list.." Some of the other grunts were quick to shush him.

The Corporal lowered his own rifle, turning to his men, now acting as the de facto leader. "Detain his ass and haul him back into the prisoner area." He pointed to the officer.

"Get your cuffs on this fucker, I'll have two of my guys haul him back with you." He then indicated to two of the other riflemen with a jerk of his head. "Go get this fucker to the POW area."

"So, we aren't roughing him up then sir?" The riflemen that had been preparing to shoot the man switched his rifle back on to safety, frowning at the news.

The Corporal stuffed his finger into his Kevlar chest plate. "We don't want the UN to intervene more then they already are, the CSAT back nations will vote to have one of their cronys send in a force and you better fucking believe that it going be full of CSAT forces masquerading as UN soldiers." He lowered his finger from his chest, inhaling. "So don't for the love of god, don't fuck this up for us. NATO is already having to deal with enough shit to keep us from another CSAT occupation."

It was 'common knowledge' that CSAT was trying to 'subtly' influence their way back into the Mediterranean island business. On that note the rifleman nodded to his orders, turning to his fellow grunt.

"Come on, help the officer get this fucker tied up." He slinged his rifle over his shoulder, adjusting the strap, he then began to kneel next to the 'roman' on the ground he flipped him onto his back while the other rifleman kept his foot on his head.

The 'roman' struggled, unsure of what was going on when he felt a pair of metallic cuffs snap over his wrist, he thought he was being sold into slavery and panicked. "N̵o̷ ̵g̵o̴d̴s̸!̴ ̷N̴o̸ ̵p̴l̴e̸a̴s̶e̵ ̴d̵o̷n̶'̸t̴ ̸s̶e̴l̶l̴ ̷m̷e̴ ̷i̴n̵t̴o̴ ̴s̴l̵a̵v̶e̷r̵y̶!̸ ̷I̸ ̵j̴u̴s̴t̸ ̸w̴a̵n̶t̶ ̸t̶o̴ ̶g̵o̵ ̷h̵o̸m̸e̷!" He began to spaz out even more than before, to which the riflemen looked at each other, shrugging.

"I think he just pissed himself.." The rifleman with his boot on the man's head stepped off him while the other one grabbed the man's wrist, hauling him up.

"Good news for you 'buddy'" The rifleman's voice was laced with sarcasm. "The esteemed corporal said no war crimes today, so you get off scot free, until the military tribunal starts." He shoved the 'roman' forwards, who was still sobbing as the two riflemen led him away.

As Miron watched from the sidelines as the officers and RAAF grunts retook their positions the area directly outside was clear of hostiles, the streets were covered in gore, but clear.

The Hellcats hovering over square then dumped ropes out the side, movement was seen from the interiors as RAAF forces began to rappel out of the Hellcats side.

The first batch landed on the ground, their boots making impact with the ground, they began taking up positions. Several riflemen entered a kneeling position aiming around the courtyard while their comrades rappelled out.

"Squad one is cleared!" The last of one of the Hellcats occupants made contact with the ground, holding his MK20 in his hands as he aimed around.

Another team of RAAF soliders finished exiting their Helicopter. "Squad Three, cleared!" Someone else sounded off as the squad formed up in a circle oval formation, having their backs to the camp.

"Squad Two here, we are green!" The second to last squad radioed in, assuming a similar formation as Squad Three.

The last man from the hovering Hellcats made contact with the ground, gripping a PDW2000 SMG rose up from his kneeling position due to bending his legs once hitting the ground. "Squad four here, we are cleared of the helo."

"Check check, this is eagle hawk one - four, breaking off to assume patrol pattern over city, good hunting out there, out." The four Hellcats that had been hovering over the square broke off, flying off over the city were in moments their armaments began firing off at unseen hostiles.

The two Hellcats that had been spewing out hell moments ago on the adjacent streets were seen also repelling out troops, gunfire was heard soon after words as the rappel lines were cut from the helicopters as they gained altitude.

Miron watched the four RAAF fire-teams outside the camp, feeling a sense of relief upon finally getting reinforcements to their position. His radio began to go off once more as Papa-Bear began to speak.

"This is Papa-Bear to all ground forces, be advised, over." His radio clicked on and off for a moment. "NATO-MEDCOM has not let us down, as of this moment the Second Marine Expeditionary forces have launched their counter attack along the coast while the 111th Infantry Division along with elements of the RAAF's first regiment is pushing from both the north and south-east of the city." Overheard at that moment, several sorties of NATO aircraft buzzed over head. Multiple NATO F/A-181's straight out of Kavala international airport, supported by a few RAAF A-149 Gryphon's.

The now familiar sound of helicopters graced their ears as coming in over the harbor were several more AH-9 Pawnees supported by two AH-99 Blackfoots. Headed up their rear were five NATO CH-67 Hurons, having markings of the Second Marine Expeditionary force.

While most of the Pawnees flew off over the city, unleashing their DAR rockets onto more unseen targets, the two AH-99 Blackfoots hovered over the castle along with three of the five Hurons, their 20mm cannons fired intermittently into the maze of streets below, taking with them more lives.

The Hurons over the castle descended behind the walls out of view, if Miron had to guess they were deploying ground forces.

The other two Hurons were heading their way, supported by six Pawnees, one of which was dedicated for troop transport had PA systems strapped down on the benches blaring music.

((NATO Playlist of awesomeness: **"****Good morning Takistan!" - Composer Ondrej Mateka: Armed Assault**:Global meltdown, DLC Operation Desert Arrow.))

The side of this Pawnee had painted in white paint 'Get some baby!' next to a painted face of Eric Andre screaming, the Pawnee then buzzed right overhead of the camp leading ahead of the Marine force.

Mirons radios crackled for a moment as the Marines entered the local radio net. "...Mad-House 6 here, tunes are blasting…"

"Copy Mad-House 6, proceed with psyops on hostile forces, out." A gruff voice responded.

"Copy your last Mad-House 1, proceeding with operation shit your pants." The Pawnee then hard banked to the right, popping off flares, turning out over the street where the recently deployed RAAF forces had landed.

Some of the Huron door gunners occasionally fired below them and Miron could just barely make out what looked to be Arrows being fired at them.

Then the psyops Pawnee rapidly ascended upwards, followed by two of the Pawnees flying in formation with the Huron's. Moments later a fireball went flying upwards, missing the Pawnees that had evaded.

The door gunner on the Huron closest to the Pawnees then unleashed a hell storm of red tracers at whoever had fired it off. The two Pawnees that had broken off formed up in a line, side by side as they performed a gun run on the position that had shot the fireball at them. Red tracers and DAR rockets were spewed out at the target location.

Miron could hear the rockets being launched from here, then the momentary delay between the rockets exploding and the sound hitting them. Before long a large amount of dust was kicked up into the sky where the Pawnees had focused their hatred.

The psyops helicopters music was echoing off the streets, as the two Pawnees broke off to form their original formations. The psyops helicopter continued to fly around the area blasting its rock music and drawing out 'Romans' wishing to attack the strange flying 'golem' creating those sounds.

Suddenly a new voice came onto the radio. "This is Lieutenant Horton, U.S Marines 2nd expeditionary force, Call Sign Mad-House 1, be advised Papa-Bear we are going to be landing in the square, mark positions for LZ with smoke, so long as it isn't red smoke, over." The two Huron's then split off hovering over the square.

The four RAAF fire-teams broke off, clearing from the square to the adjacent streets, holding position while the camp dealt with marking the LZs. Papa-Bear once more came over the radio.

"You heard him folks, find a suitable place for them to land and pop a smoke." The message concluded with a brief moment of static before returning to usual radio chatter.

Miron saw several soldiers begin moving to the walls, vaulting over. "Hey, Patterson." Miron spoke over to the radio-operator.

The radio-operator was currently observing the helicopters hovering over head, in a sort of stupor at finally getting relieved. "Patterson!" He shook his shoulder, finally snapping him out of his stupor.

"About damn time they showed up." He looked over to Miron now, still gripping his depleted PO7.

"Yeah, about time." Miron looked over to see other soldiers popping some smoke grenades, tossing them out into the square. "You have a smoke grenade on you man? They wanted us to mark a LZ for them.."

Patterson numbly nodded for a moment, feeling over his Carrier Rig his hands undid the Velcro pocket on the side of his vest. Extracting a blue smoke grenade he handed it over to Miron. "Hope you have a good throwing arm.."

Miron ripped the pin from the side, a barely audible click was heard as he did so. He raised his arm back, looking around the square he spotted a mostly empty area, mostly empty meaning it had less corpses then the majority of the other locations.

He then hurled the smoke grenade forwards, a wispy line of blue smoke spilling out as the grenade left his hand. It then clattered against the ground where it evolved from a wispy line of blue smoke it then turned into a billowing cloud of smoke before being dissipated by the hovering Huron's above.

Around the same time a NATO rifleman had tossed a green smoke grenade on the opposite side of the camp, the two Huron's diverted their courses preparing to land at the two separate LZs.

The rear of the Huron opened up, and the marines finally made landfall, the ending was now in sight as the first of the Marine riflemen stepped off the Huron.

(Bit of a shit ending, but guaranteed next chapter will finally be the conclusion to the Empires rampage in Kavala, next POV will be that of the marines overall and most likely not following a single POV. Until next time, Medical Idiot 1-1 signing off.)


	6. Chapter 6, The 111th come rolling along

Chapter 6 - And the 111th comes rolling along.

"When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy." - Murphy's laws of war, Sub category Techniques.

**Date, August, 2035.**

**ID: United States Marine Corps, Second Expeditionary force - Launched from CVN-83 USS Freedom. **

**POV: Lieutenant Horton.**

**Location: City square, Kavala, Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**SITREP: U.S Marines, affiliated with NATO, have successfully entered into Kavala and are busy securing bulkheads for the army's 111th Infantry Division and the RAAF's 1st Battalion as they enter the city.**

The Huron's were hovering over the square, their Pawnee escorts along with RAAF Hellcat's were currently clearing the adjacent streets with their mounted guns. The psyops Pawnee was still doing rounds over the nearby streets blasting away its rock and roll music.

"Mad-House 1 here, LZ marked with blue smoke, wait one." The Huron that was housing Mad-House 1 began to land in the approximate area. The smoke was now dissipated due to the winds being produced from the landing helicopter,

Meanwhile in the next street over, several Hellcat's along with Pawnees began to open fire once more, followed by multiple small arms fire in conjunction with the heavier weapons being fired from the helicopters.

The RAAF began broadcasting over the local comms network, heavy gun-fire is heard in the background as the operator of the radio began speaking.

"This is RAAF Squad five here! Enemy combatants are trying to do another counter assault, we are holding for now with help of our air support but we are going to need reinforcements quickly!" The radio squawked off, just then one of the Pawnees overhead just barely avoided a volley of Fireballs.

"Holy shit! This is Mad-House 3, enemy uh.." Background chatter between the pilot and copilot is briefly heard as the pilot as for classification on the people hurling balls of fire at them are.

"...enemy mages are in concealed positions, keep your eyes peeled for fireballs! Don't remain hovering people, use strafing to avoid becoming a sitting duck!" The Pawnee pilot yelled over local comms, he then circled about mid air, unleashing his dual miniguns onto the street below. Red tracers blanketing the street beyond the rooftops.

"It's like a shooting gallery down there, hey John ease off on the Miniguns will you, they are turning orange…" One of the pilots commented to his copilot.

"Uh, copy easing off on the minis, spooling down…" One of the Pawnees had stopped firing, circling back over the rooftops to avoid being targeted.

The Hurons finally landed in the square, the helicopters landing wheels extracted out of the interior compartments allowing for it to remain on the ground.

The side of the Huron had the symbol of the USMC eagle and globe painted in light grey on the side of the helicopter, the door gunner was aiming his minigun around the square for purely precautionary measures.

The rear ramps opened up soon followed by Marines exiting the Huron, armed up with the standard NATO/American MXC rifles they also were wearing standard NATO uniforms in the Marine MARPAT camo.

"Move it you lot! I want to kick some ass and I don't want anyone lagging behind!" A NCO yelled as he exited the Heron, his MXC rifle having a 3GL attachment on the underbarrel, he waved his hand forwards, motioning for the Marines to dismount.

"Yes sir!" A chorus of responses from the grunts as they filed out of the Huron, rifles in hand as they exited. The marines upon exiting formed up around the ramp of the Huron, aiming at what houses were still standing.

One of the marines yelled out. "Got movement on the second floor!" Multiple weapons turned rapidly up to the house the marine had yelled about. A tense moment of silence fell, as silent as it could be with gunfire in the background, then movement was seen approaching the balcony.

A 'roman' archer appeared in the window, yelling a warcry as he stepped onto the balcony. He prepared to draw his bow back to fire his arrow, but the marines beat him to the punch by tearing him apart in a blizzard of 6.5x39mm.

The archer slumped over before falling over the balconies railing, landing unceremoniously with a wet splat onto the pavement below.

"Clear!" The marines began to fan out around the area, going into four man teams with a designated squad leader. One of the marines popped another round into the archer before following his squad leader.

Mad-House one, Lieutenant Horton, spoke over the Marine radio-net. "All Mad-House call signs, be advised, we are now going under call sign Mad-Dogs, Mad-House is now the call sign for the Pawnee escorts, how copy over."

"Mad-H..Dog 2 acknowledged over, Mad-Dog 1 what are our orders at this time?" The marines now covered most of the square, supported by the RAAF squads that had rappeled out of the Hellcats and bolstered by the defenders within the 'FOB'.

"All Mad-Dog call signs are to rally with the RAAF Squads holding position beyond the FOB at this time, break."

"Mad-Dog 2 copys all Mad-Dog 1, uh break.." The radio beeped as the operator spoke again. "Mad-Dog 1, are we to move along the MSR towards 'road block 1' at this time over?"

"Affirmative, Mad-Dog 2 is to move along MSR 1, Mad-Dogs 3 and 4 are to secure MSR 2 while Mad-Dog 1 is moving to secure MSR 3.."

"And what about the defenders in the camp?" Mad-Dog 3 asked over the comms. "Up to Papa-Bear incharge of the FOB, we have not much comms with the force other than some of the NATO forces stationed there, other than that RAAF comms are limited to us, have to go through Papa-Bear for that one." Lieutenant Horton replied, gripping his MXC rifle he finally exited the Huron, bending his knees once he got on the ground.

Just then the radio crackled off as Papa-Bear once more spoke into the local comms, both NATO and RAAF. "The riot police are going to be holding back for this one, once the Marines secure the roadblocks I want riflemen to move up and make sure the Mora crew is alright." The radio beeped for a moment before he continued.

"Riot officers, get your vans parked up near the choke points, if anyone not in BDUs or a uniform walks up with a sword you cleared to spray them down and detain them, the level of force needed for detaining will be left up to your discretion."

Some greek was heard briefly over the radios, followed soon by the riot vans exiting the 'FOB', following on their sides were riot officers in a testudo formation, the tear gas officers followed to their rear, their launchers aimed upwards as they advanced.

Lieutenant Horton aimed his MXC around, walking up to his squad he cleared the Huron. He spoke into his headset, giving a quick beep before speaking. "Mad-House 1, Mad-Dog 1 and Mad-Dog 2 is cleared of the Huron, you are cleared for dust off."

The Hurons ramp began to shut as the pilot began to apply more power to the rotors. "Copy that Mad-Dog 1, we are dusting off here to RTB with the Freedom, good luck out there, Mad-House 1 and two departing the AO at this time.." And with that the two Hurons began to lift off out of the square, two of the Pawnee gunships moved in to act as escorts until they cleared the city.

Upon their departure the Kavalan police forces began firing off tear gas into the streets ahead, their shield wall became a hive of activity as shouting was heard across the square as several officers then engaged in combat with remaining 'roman' forces.

Horton once more spoke into his radio to the localized forces under his direct command. "You have your orders people, get moving and secure your objectives, once the local forces relieve you head towards my position and we push towards the center of the city." By now he was at the head of the assembled squad, motioning with his hand to begin moving down the street towards the gunfire.

"Got it lieutenant…" The NCO heading Mad-Dog 2 Radioed in.

"Roger that…" The NCO heading Mad-Dog 3 replied.

"Copy that, moving." The NCO for Mad-Dog 4 responded.

Horton having his MXC raised turned the corner of the street, his eyes were greeted by the sight of smoke and tear gas blanketing parts of the street along with two RAAF fireteams along with several Kavalen police officers laying waste to advancing 'roman' forces, although their advance was halted dead due to the fireteams air support currently dropping rounds into their ranks.

"Move it people, reinforce their positions and repel the counter attack!" Horton waved several of his riflemen by as they jogged up towards the RAAF position.

Several of the team advanced across the street to the houses located on the other side of the street, using them to cover the rear of the force.

Overhead one of the Pawnee escorts did a gun run on the street ahead, the loud "**BRRRRRT**." of the miniguns deafened the soldiers for a moment.

Torrents of red tracers slammed into the 'romans' testudo formation, absolutely annihilating their front allowing the RAAF forces ahead to mop up those still brave enough to try and advance on their position.

The Marines moved in behind the RAAF forces, beginning to open fire along side the Altians. Red and green tracers filled the street as they cleared up the remaining forces.

Suddenly someone on the rooftops began yelling. "I̶n̷ ̴d̵i̷v̷i̶n̸e̷ ̶p̸r̴o̶v̶i̵n̷c̷e̸!̵ ̶T̵h̸e̴ ̷h̴a̵t̶e̸ ̶o̸f̶ ̷H̴a̷r̸d̷y̶ ̵i̵s̷ ̶c̶a̶s̵t̷ ̷u̸p̷o̵n̸ ̶y̵o̶u̵!" A fireball hit the front of the RAAF squad launching several men skywards.

"Contact! On the roof, fucker in robes!" A Marine yelled out, soon followed by him firing at where he had been pointing. Up on a balcony a man in robes was currently casting a force field as he tried to back away into cover.

Four marines stacked up on the building that the 'mage' was currently inside of, breaking a window they tossed in a flash grenade into the first room. "Niner banger out!" the marine that had tossed it in averted his gaze as the flash grenade went off.

"Go go go!" The point man kicked the door in, his MX rifle raised as he rushed inside. The other marines followed him inside, then gunfire erupted inside as they encountered hostiles.

Soon enough red tracer fire began to fly out of the up stairs balcony door as the mage was seen back pedaling towards the street, his force field broke under the rifle fire, he tripped over the balcony ledge.

Many of the men that had been shooting at him earlier from ground level opened fired on the man falling, shredding his torso as he fell.

"Ḁ̸̛̭͆͒g̴͚̭͔̊̅̈́g̵͓̒̿̈́ģ̵̛͈̻͗ḩ̵̤̔̈́͠h̵̨̤̀h̷͍̀̈́̐!" The man screamed as he was shot, landing on his back he slammed into the pavement, his armor riddled with rounds he began gasping for air, his hands although limp on the ground, were seen glowing a faint green, soon his body was glowing the same color as his hands. Several of the soldiers nearby thought he was about to cast some sort of suicide spell.

"Watch it! Fucker is about to pull a Harry Potter jihad!" One of the marines yelled as he hightailed it to cover. Although a large portion of the men had run for cover, Horton approached the fallen 'mage'.

Upon closer inspection, the man was not blowing up, rather it appeared he was no longer bleeding out as no more blood was seen leaking out of the holes created by the bullets. Horton took note of the green light enveloping the 'mage' before stocking his head in with his MX rifle.

The 'mage' went limp upon taking the rifle stock to his head, his 'magic' seemed to dissipate as soon as he went unconscious. Several of the RAAF soliders coming out of cover aimed down at the mage, their MK20s prepped to open fire.

Horton raised his hand in a halt motion, placing his boot on the man's torso. "We are going to detain him, I have a feeling that our respective governments are going to be interested in his abilities." He spoke to the RAAF riflemen, who albeit reluctantly, lowered their MK20's.

He rolled the man onto his chest, two of the RAAF personnel grabbed the man's arms, folding them behind his backside, although they did get some revenge as they made the position of his arms uncomfortable to be in for long periods of time.

A pair of policemen were flagged down, they then snapped handcuffs onto the 'mage' wrist, hefting the man up one of the officers carried the man in a fireman carry, making their way back towards the 'FOB', prisoner in tow.

Returning to the combat once more, the street was now being cleared of what little enemy presence was left as the combined Marine and RAAF forces swept the enemy back down the street.

Just as they were preparing to clear into the next street, a gaggle of 'romans' with a ogre as support came down an adjacent street crossing the main road.

"SHIT! ENEMY HARD HITTER IN THE OPEN!" The advancing marines and RAAF forces began to fall back, over head the Pawnee escorts weren't firing.

"Mad-House, why aren't you engaging!" Horton took cover behind a RAAF strider as arrows began to fall upon their position. "Mad-Dog 1, we are out of ammo, spent it all on clearing operations, no DARs, no bullets."

Overhead the Pawnees began to turn off, heading off towards Altis AFB (Altis International.). "We can contact you with one of the sorties of F/A 181s overhead to do CAS on the ogre though."

Before replying, Horton leaned out of cover and popped off several rounds at the advancing force, leaning back in he replied. "Negative, too much unknown in the area, houses might still be full of civilians. I call CAS now we risk killing the locals." Even if airstrikes had already been called in during the battle thus far, he didn't feel like risking the chance of bombing civilians even if it would demolish the ogre ahead.

The pilot comms were still on, in the background the pilot speaking to his copilot was heard for a moment before he spoke to Horton. "Well that sounds like your problem, we are going to head to AFB Altis to rearm, if you have AT specialist's down there I recommend you start using them."

As the Pawnees turned off more arrows pelted off their underside. The most damage they did was etch some of the paint off.

The RAAF Hellcats weren't even on their net, so any chance of contacting them was zilch, he could in theory try asking one of the RAAF NCOs near him to radio them in for a danger close strafing run on the enemies position.

Even so it appeared they were occupied with other matters anyways as a pair of Hellcats narrowly avoided another volley of fireballs, returning with tracer fire.

One of the nearby marines raised his MX 3GL, "40 Mil going live!" He shouted to nearby forces. He pulled the trigger of the 3GL, the grenade exited with a 'Fwoosh'.

The 40mm traveled rapidly outwards towards the 'roman' ranks, falling just short of hitting their shields. A spray of fragmentations and debris pelted the 'roman' shields, resulting in little damage.

"Hey cover me! I am going to bound across!" Horton yelled over to a grouping of marines, the same ones that had flushed out the 'mage' from the house.

"Got it lieu, cover his ass guys!" The NCO of the squad ordered his men to provide suppressing fire. "Hey, get that MX SW set up!" One of the marines armed with a MX SW went prone, setting up the bi-pod on the light squad machine gun.

He racked the side of the MX, sighting in his targets on his iron sights. "Dropping some lead!" He yelled, soon a stream of red tracers left the end of his LMG.

He was soon thereafter followed by the rest of his squad, firing off their carbines down range at the 'roman' forces. The romans formation was now being suppressed, their front wall of shields went down and soon thereafter their arrows died down as well.

Horton crossed the street, hip firing a few shots down range as he did so, he reached the other side of the street. Taking cover in the doorway of a house he looked down the road towards the very front of their lines.

A pair of Marines were setting up a PMCL behind a burnt out sedan as the ogre approached their lines, the ogre was under heavy small arms fire, its torso was getting shredded by a heavy wall of bullets but they did little to slow its advance, it began to charge them, hatred in its eyes.

"Check check! PMCL prepped! Clear back bla.." The marine checking off looked up to see the ogre was now twenty meters away. "Holy shit! HOLY SHIT! FUCKING LEG IT!" The spotter panicked and began to run back towards friendly forces as the orge charged at them.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY FUCKING GOD!" The AT specialist dropped his PMCL, unslinging his MXC carbine he began to hip fire on full auto at the advancing ogre.

The ogre crushed what was left of the sedan with its foot, before rearing its hand back and pimp slapped the man aside, sending him into the wall of the house next to him, his body made a wet slap as he slammed into the wall, careening into the first room of the house.

"Jackson is down! Jackson is fucking down!" The marines and RAAF forces were now panicking as they fired everything they had at the ogre.

Just as the ogre was about to break their position a heavy cannon went off, the entirety of the ogres backside and a large portion of its chest was now gone as a mist of red fell upon the area.

Behind the collapsing orge down the road, a M2A1 Slammer UP NATO tank was seen down the road, its 120mm cannon was smoking while its RCWS HMG was firing round after round at what was left of the 'roman' position.

Hortons radio went off as he received a message from an unknown source. "This is Corporal Louis Barklem, 1st Mechanized Battalion moving in support to the 111th Infantry division advance, looked like you jarheads needed some help." Horton looked down the road to the Slammer, giving a thumbs up.

"Appreciate you army boys helping my men out there, we really needed the support you checklist sociopaths.." Horton spoke into his radio humorously, briefly looking to his men to make sure everyone was alright.

Two corpsmen and several riflemen were helping Private First Class Jackson, the AT specialist that had eaten shit when he got slapped into the wall.

"Tsk, don't mistake my act of goodwill for kindness jarhead, just need all the able bodied men we can muster right now" Barklems tone indicated he was joking. ", so with that being said, I wouldn't mind if you folks got a move on." The Slammers turret turned down the street the 'romans' had been now retreating from, another 120mm shell slammed into the road ahead.

"Dealing with a casualty here, critical condition from the looks of it. Once we MEDEVAC him we will get a move on." Behind the slammer several NATO AMV-7 Marshall's filled the street, supported by several IFV-6c Panthers as troops began to dismount the vehicles.

Heavy gunfire now filled the air as the 'roman' advance had been grounded to a crippling halt as both air support and recently arriving NATO/RAAF reinforcements plugged the gaps and sent destruction their way.

"Come on let's go, lets go!" A group of 111th infantry shoved past down the street, more automatic fire erupted as more and more combatants entered the fight, moving along side the IFV-6c Panthers, their RCWS HMG / GMG firing off clearing the road.

The Panthers RCWS GMG fired off salvo after salvo of 40mm grenades into the retreating ranks of the 'romans', soon after mopped up by its RCWS HMG. Anything or anyone that was left alive after words was detained by the infantry and hauled off down the street.

Several AMV-7's began rolling down the street, firing off their 40mm cannon intermittently into distant targets. Troops were pouring out of the backside of a slow moving AMV-7 as it made its way down the street, a soldier was ushering his fellow comrades out of the vehicle while firing off his MX rifle down the street.

As the street ahead was being secured, two NATO Prowlers rounded the street that the marines were on, one marked on the doors with a white backdrop and a red diamond in the middle.

The back seat area had been converted to hold a stretcher as two combat medics sat in the back area of the Prowler.

The second Prowler was just a normal variant with a HMG on the frame. The two Prowlers halted next to the marine medics trying to stabilize the AT specialist.

Overhead a new pair of AH-99 Blackfoots flying in the middle of a wedge supported by three Pawnee gunships on either side. To the rear was a group of six NATO UH-80 Ghost hawks flying in a wedge formation similar to the Pawnees.

Their door gunners were constantly pouring down rounds as they flew over, red tracer rounds flying out into the deeper sections of Kavala. Leading the group was the marine psyops Pawnee from earlier blasting new music.

((NATO Playlist of awesomeness: "**Klendathu Drop - Starship Troopers Soundtrack." - Composer Basil Poledouris**: Starship Troopers Soundtrack.))

The two combat medics hopped out of the Prowler, hauling the stretcher up they jogged over to the marine combat medics. They laid the stretcher down, and one of the medics began checking the marine over.

"He is in critical condition, but if we MEDEVAC him now we might be able to salvage the situation.." He began to haul the wounded AT specialist up onto the stretcher, with the assistance of the marine medics.

The medics finally loaded the man onto the medical Prowler, strapping him down onto the vehicle the medics climbed back into their seats. The lead medic slapped the frame of the Prowler. "Loaded up man, get us back to base. We will stabilize him on the way."

The driver nodded, he honked to get the road clear ahead of him. The marines and RAAF forces began to clear a path in the road for the Prowler to drive on through.

Once the road had been cleared the Prowlers took off down the adjacent street, turning off down the road they speeded out of sight.

"All Mad-Dog callsigns, CASEVAC successful, continue with objectives along side the 111th. Objective now is to push the enemy out of the city at this time…" Horton looked down the street that the Prowlers had sped off down, the marines began to reorganize their formations as they prepped to push forward with the 111ths assault.

Currently more and more 111th assets are entering the city. Armored and infantry units were making short work of any of the 'roman' forces still putting up a fight. Any 'romans' trying to run back to their GATE were being cut off by a series of NATO and RAAF checkpoints being hastily set up throughout the city. Newly arriving IFVs, APCs, and tanks and air support were steming the tide of battle turning it from a straining war of defence to a one sided slaughter.

To the Empire this was not a war, not even a battle, nor could one call this a skirmish. This was hell on earth. Some could say it was the gods wrath personified in the form of an endless wall of flames and steel.

To the RAAF and NATO, **this is war.** Combined arms doctrine at its finest as Infantry, armored, and air support worked intertwined with each other in clearing street after street of enemy forces and taking more and more ground back from the Empires sledgehammer surprise assault.

**Date, IC 687, Month of heat.**

**Location: B̶a̶r̶b̶a̶r̶i̶c̶ ̶l̶a̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶b̶e̶y̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶G̶A̶T̶E̶. The killing fields of the gods!**

**U̶n̶k̶n̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶c̶i̶t̶y. A maze of death and despair! **

**Status: P̶i̶l̶l̶a̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶n̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶E̶m̶p̶e̶r̶o̶r̶ ̶M̶o̶l̶t̶.̶ There is no hope, we retreat back to the Empire with haste! **

**POV: General Maximus Pious - Head of what's left the Empires Invasion force.**

Pious had no idea how everything could go so wrong, one moment he had arrived to claim new lands for the empire, a city next to a great expanse of ocean no less! The local forces they had thus encountered proved little more than a bothersome itch, especially the ones held up in that castle overlooking the city.

He was told by one of the runners for the second corps that a camp of barbarians proving especially difficult was soon to be overrun and slaughtered, he even sent in the dragon riders in to help in that matter so he could use all of his forces to subjugate the defenders still in that castle.

He was busy surveying the city from one of the balconies situated in one of these barbarians houses, using one of the finest spy glasses on the market straight from Italica's markets. He saw far and wide the city's landscape. Several tall towering structures painted in yellow hung over the skyline with wires suspended from them. Tallish white structures with many windows stood above the small cities skyline, nothing major but looking upon them gave him a otherworldly chill.

The majority of the cities houses at least felt familiar to him, something you would expect to see in one of the major Villas back home for servants. But the strange yellow towering structures and the architecture for the white buildings gave him a feeling of dread, unfamiliarity.

What confused him even more was that all along the edges of the city, not one defensive wall was in sight, even the smallest of cities in the Empire had some semblance of a wall to keep attackers from breaching into the cities.

He chalked it up to these Barbines believing that because they lived on an island they had no real worries for actual defensive structures. But now he was becoming increasingly unsure, and on top of his mounting paranoia he was starting to feel like he was being watched from a external source, before the 'sky golems' as his men had called them came in and decimated the dragon riders, they were reporting of strange spects in the skies, feeling like they were being watched by them.

At first he scoffed at the idea but now he was feeling more and more and worried that perhaps they were partly responsible for the situation he was in now. Regardless of these earlier reports he pressed the attack, having Colt Formal lead the attack against the castle, leaving him in command of both the third and fourth corps of pikemen and demi-human 'vassals' to lay siege to the castle. He was hesitant at first, voicing that perhaps it might have been best to try and talk to the locals instead of attacking them in such a matter.

Pious had at that time assumed that he was speaking out of cowardice more so than anything else, that he doubted the Empires strength to conquer some lowly barbarians. But now he understood the late Formal, . Of course now it was too late to dwell on such things.

With the summoning of the 'flying golems' they unleashed a horrendece flame magic upon the forces of both third and fourth corps. Regretfully Colt Formal had been leading the attack at that time when the two golems came in. What little reports he had now indicated that there was nothing left of the two forces.

What was even worse was that coming in over the sea now were several flying golems, the top of which seemed to be creating some strange form of wind magic that kept them afloat while creating a thunderous 'thumping(?)' sound as they flew over.

What was worse was dozens of unfamiliar floating objects were now making their way towards the beaches. Strange tubes on the top of the vehicle spewed out small explosives that decimated his men along the coast. What made it worse was once they made landfall the rear of the 'floating golems' opened up and out came drove after drove of what he assumed to be their 'shock troopers'. They rapidly gained ground and retook the harbor his legionaries had secured.

The barbarians strange grey boat stationed off in the harber must have also had powerful mages aboard as its weapons were able to obliterate the sixth corps in its entirety, several arcs of light flew out of the ship, landing directly upon the sixth's corps temporary encampment in the port.

What little the runners were able to get back to Pious babbled how nothing but smoke and ash was left of the sixth. He was at this point realizing that he and the entirety of the Empire may have made a grave mistake.

The Empire had never lost a war, at least none in recent memory. The only time they came close was the battle of Akutteku, almost two hundred and fifty years ago, when the entire Imperial army had been wiped out. But they were able to rebound from that failure.

But now? No amount of pride or prayer was going to save him and the Imperial army now. They had entered the battlefield of the 20th century of Earth, one dominated by coordinated forces and combined arms doctrine warfare. Concepts never before seen in Imperial records.

No Imperial had ever gone up against a LAV, much less a tank. Sure one could claim that the dwarven federation of the far north had such 'technology' to put it loosely, but the Empire had gone to battle against such creations and still succeeded then.

But this something entirely new, weaponry propelled not by magic. But by the wit and knowledge and money of the earth's various nations thirst for ever more powerful weapons of war to be used against one another.

Of course, such knowledge was lost to General Maximus Pious. He was currently organizing what little of his forces were left to retreat through the GATE. "Take the slaves back to the Empire at once! Any artwork or jewelry is to be left!" He looked over his assembled generals in charge of the other divisions , his temper was becoming more and more strained by the minute, and the gathered generals knew it as they felt an icy chill fall over them even in this emenouse heat that blanketed the city.

The general of the first corps coughed nervously. "B..but Genera Piousl. We have a substantial amount of objects of wealth we can take back to the Empire, we can call it a 'success' in that regards…" His words sounded hollow as if he was trying to convince himself what he was saying was true.

"We haven't the time to pilfer the goods we were able to secure earlier, we have lost over sixty percent of what the Emperor has given us. SIXTY PERCENT OF THE EMPIRES MILITARY MIGHT!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, his face was flushed with anger as the officers cowered back at his outburst.

Nearby more explosions shook the ground, the barbarians 'steel elephants were closing in now, shaking the ground with anger of a god! Pious had seen what they could do to the ogres of the ninth demi-human 'vassel' forces.

Where there had been a column of ogres charging a column of their 'steel elephants', only craters and red mist had remained as the 'steel elephants' swarmed over their outer defenses. In support of the lead 'elephants' were several smaller 'steel elephants' alongside their infantry, fanning out and slaughtering those still brave enough to fight back. It was at that moment Pious felt the pit in his stomach form, for he knew this was the end of their escapade beyond the GATE.

Just as Pious was about to begin another tirade, a runner of the first catapult artillery division ran inside the tent Pious and the other generals were now situated in.

The runners forehead drenched in sweat and his face contorted into a look of horror. "GENERALS!" He snapped to attention as he entered, he inhaled painfully, sucking in what air he could after running for the command tent.

Pious turned to the runner, looking him over and feeling a chill wash over himself as he had a feeling what news he was about to hear would not be good news. "Speak runner…" He watched the runner's complexion turn from pale, to paler as he began to recite what he was ordered to tell him.

"The enemy 'flying thumper golmens' came over the square we established our frontal camp in and decimated some of the catapults we had set up acting as siege weapons against the castle!" Pious paled upon hearing this, he knew it was only a matter of time before they targeted them, but the news was still shocking nonetheless.

"What do we have left…" Piouses' voice sounded like he was at the breaking point now, his tone sounded dry and to the assembled officers his eyes looked duller, a man with nothing left to lose.

The runner shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "We have several Ballistas defending the perimeter of the cam.." another series of explosions racked the area. The runner winced. "Less, Balistas then we had a moment ago.."

Maximus inwardly groaned at the failures of the Imperial army, now that his arrogance of the barbarians on this end of the GATE had evaporated, he understood now that he along with the generals in charge of this invasion should have planned more carefully. Instead they let their pride blind them into this devastating situation.

"Along with what's left of our Catapults, we still have several mages providing cover for our retreating forces…" The runner concluded, just as another series of explosions rocked the area. Screaming could be heard outside the tent as a small cloud of smoke entered into the tent.

"My order still stands, bring the slaves and our remaining forces through the GATE, leave the wounded…" One of the Generals stood up, his chair slamming against the floor. "How heartless can you be! Our men are dying for us and you want to leave our wounded!" His eyes were filled with rage.

Maximus regarded him with a dull stare. "We simply don't have the time to bring our wounded back, and even if we did we simply don't have enough healers left to heal them all. Most will die of infection anyways." His tone was blunt and uncaring, but in truth it pained him to have to leave so many of the empire to rot and die in this far off lands.

The General continued to glare, his fist clenched. "Then I shall stay here with them, acting as the rear guard for you to run back to the empire with your tail between your legs…" Pious felt a small bubble of anger rise in him at the Generals remark.

Perhaps if his ego hadn't been shattered during the course of this invasion he would have lashed out against him, but he knew that he was right in his blame in this case to be called heartless in leaving their fallen comrades here.

"Then you will stay behind as we evacuate from these cursed lands." He sighed, before continuing. "May Emory watch over you and grant you the chance to wet your blade, and may Duncan bless your blade as you cover our retreat, you honor Emperor Molt with your actions, General Flavius Rex.." Pious slumped in his chair, essentially knowing he doomed the man to a fate possibly worse than death.

General Flavius remained standing, his posture indicating he had no intentions on taking back his words. "Get your remaining men situated then, I shall order for what is left of our demi-human vassals to launch one last counter assault to allow my men to form a defensive perimeter while they keep the barbarians attention." Pious nodded to the man, he rose out of his chair, walking over to Flavius.

"Is there anything you'd like me to tell your wife once we return back to the Empire?" His tone was now softer even with everything falling apart around them.

Flavius kept on the stoic look, he sighed closing his eyes. "Tell her I went out in defence of the Empire, and to make sure that my son continues with his lessons. Even in death I wish for him to succeed me once I pass on. I fight on not only for the Empire, but so that my family may continue to live on."

Pious placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "As your final request, in defence of the Empire. Once I return to the senate and tell them of our doomed expedition I shall see to it that I tell her myself."

General Flavius didn't say anything for a moment, his gaze seemed distant as he prepared himself to die in these lands. He turned back to Pious slowly, nodding as he donned his helmet.

"Once I return to my villa back home, I will crack open some of the finest wine I have on hand and drink to your name." Pious offered it to the man, knowing it probably ment little in the grand scheme of the gods, but the sentiment was good enough for him.

Flavius once again nodded, giving Pious one last salute. "I will look forward to seeing you in life here after, Pious…" He adjusted his scabbard, turning to the exit he halted just as he was about to step out.

"It was a mistake, coming here in the first place…" Before any of the other generals could respond to that, he stepped out into the raging battle outside. Pious turned back to the gathered generals, a grave look etched upon his facial features now.

"He is giving us scant few moments we have left. Send out your runners and recall all your forces. We. Are. Leaving." He emphasized his words, turning back to the runner still in the tent with them who was now shaking in fear.

"Alert your captain, we are to pull back with whatever we have left. Leave the demi-humans to cover our retreat along with General Flavius." The runner stood there a moment, before nodding hesitantly. "Then get going, runner…" He turned his back to the man.

"R..right away, sir!" Pious did not see the man salute, although the movement from behind him indicated the runner had done so. The tent flaps were heard being shoved open as the runner hasilty exited.

Once more, another explosion shook the grounds as the vibrations of one of their flying 'golems' buzzed over the encampment. The assembled generals gave each other disturbed looks before exiting as well to inform their men of the retreat order, leaving Pious alone in the tent.

He looked over the now emptied tent, sighing. "By the gods, what have we done…" he said to no one but himself, and yet. He felt he was not alone in this tent.

He looked to his side, swearing he felt the presence of someone else within the tent. Then looking to the exit of the tent he felt an icy chill grip him, as if the god of the underworld had been standing beside him moments ago. He shook himself out of his chills, nothing more than his nerves working up on him.

He gripped his helmet off of the table, inhaling as he turned to the tent flaps. "I can only hope the senate will listen to my report of this failed invasion…" He spoke softly to himself as he exited into the square that his camp was situated in.

Just as it was earlier, the GATE stood in the center of the camp. Several overturned barbarine contraptions, or as the men were calling them 'horseless carriages' were on their sides or shoved into the walls of the buildings lining the streets.

In the distance, the outline of explosions were visible as the enemy closed in ever closer. On a nearby house's roof the entire upper stairs had been cleared out so that part of the fourth ballista division could set up one of their weapons overlooking a nearby street.

The crew were frantically loading in a new bolt, with the assistance of a reserve mage casting levitation on the heavy bolt to load it in faster. "Hurry! The enemy steel elephants are almost upon us!" The crew members were manning the ballista, turning it as the bolt was secured.

"Prep, prep! Unleash the bolt!" The bolt in the ballista flew outwards into unseen enemies, then it was seen rebounding upwards, the tip portion was gone. Only the rear of the arrow was seen spiraling upwards.

Before even a minute had passed, where the Ballista had been was turned into an area of smoke and debris as a thunderous explosion consumed the area. Pious staggered back as wood and stone chunks pelted the area.

"That was the last of the fourth ballista division! We have no more ballistas this side of the GATE!" Pious mumbled to himself, he shook himself out his thoughts as he inhaled.

"LISTEN UP!" He yelled into the square, catching several of the officers and soldiers' attention. "WE ARE PULLING OUT OF THESE CURSED LANDS! GENERAL FLAVIOUS IS TO COVER OUR RETREAT ALONGSIDE THE NINTH DEMI-HUMAN VASSEL'S ARMY!" The gathered soliders had a mixed reaction to this, some were praising their gods for finally issuing the retreat order, others broke down crying, and some had a look of disgust on their faces, mostly this came from the nobles pretending to be officers.

"GET PACKED AND PREPARE TO FALL BACK!" Just then, a NATO AH-99 flew over the square, unleashing 20mm into a nearby cluster of men. Pious watched the engagement in horror, the level of brutality that was being unleashed upon his men.

"INCOMING! IT'S ONE OF THE VIBRATING GOLEMS!" One of the legionaries screamed in terror, the moral of the Empires army was reaching a critical breaking point.

As the AH-99 continued to lay down destruction onto his remaining forces, Pious shook himself out his stuper. "First Corps, I need you to distract the golem, lay down your lives if need be. I have an idea!" Pious shouted to his men, who reluctantly had to draw the helicopters attention as the 20mm cannon pounded them.

"Oh shit! Go, GO!" A legionary dived away as a red stream of bullets slammed into the ground behind him, he wasn't fast enough though as his leg was torn clean off from the 20mm rounds. "AGGHH..." The legionary's screams were cut short as more 20mm entered his body, causing him to turn into red mist with a shredded chest plate.

As his men tried to distract the helicopter Pious began to run towards the other side of the camp, where the last of the fourth siege battalion was located with their catapults. The runner that he had been speaking to earlier laid dead in the street, his throat and upper chest having been ripped apart by the barbarians' flame magic. Meanwhile the AH-99's cannon was still reverberating off the walls of the houses as he ran up to the officer incharge of the weapons.

The officer in question was shaking in fear, his lower clothing stained by liquid as he stared at the dead runner. Pious realized the man was going to be of no help to him, so he turned to the soldiers actually manning the catapult.

They were fearful, but weren't in a state of shock like their officer. "Can you men get a rock hurled into that golem?" His voice, while asking it like a question sounded more akin to a order.

The first to answer was a young junior officer, something akin to a NCO. "We'd need to get the catapult into position, then pray that it successfully hits it... " Although his tone carried a sense of worry to it, his words also carried a feeling of firmness to it.

Pious regarded the man for a scant moment, nodding in approval of the man's attitude on the matter. "See that it gets done, and quickly. I would rather not have what is left of the First Corps die in such a manner…" The AH-99 pilots were none the wiser to the situation as they continued to unleash their 20mm rounds into the legionaries below.

"Get the work orks over here, turn the catapult in the city facing direction!" The junior officer shouted to his men. Situated near the catapult were several orks wearing heavy chains and collars, gripping the base of the catapult.

"Get a move on you lot, hurry it up!" A legionary armed with a wip cracked it overhead of the ork 'workers'. Who responded by working faster for fear of being on the receiving end of the whip.

The catapult began to move, facing slowly towards the AH-99. Meanwhile said helicopter was currently moving slowly now, still hovering but listing to the right as it fired more rounds off into the dwindling legionaries below.

"Load the boulder!" A group of catapult operators hauled a large rounded rock to the catapult launcher, their arms becoming strained from hauling such a large object. "Eng...loaded!" The crew loaded the boulder onto the catapult. The junior officer unsheathed his sword from his scabbard, pointing it directly at the helicopter. "FIRE THE CATAPULT!" He bellowed to the operators. "FIRING THE CATAPULT!" The crew pulled the lever on the catapult, the taut ropes hauled the boulder upwards, launching it towards the AH-99.

**Date, August, 2035.**

**ID: 1st Altian AFB QRF - NATO - Aerial Heavy Attack Reconnaissance squadron. **

**Location: City center, Kavala, Republic of Altis and Stratis.**

**POV: ISKIAL-5.**

**TIMESTAMP: A few moments before impact. **

((NATO Playlist of awesomeness: "**Alicorn" - Ace Combat 7: Composer Keiki Kobayshi**.))

The AH-99 crew were busy mowing down what seemed to be the main forces encampment. "This is like fish in a barrel!" The gunner off handedly remarked as he began targeting a cluster of Legonarys.

The pilot moved the Black Foot into a hovering position, right above the main group of tents. "Lucky for us, you're cleared hot, weapon's free on all targets." The pilot gave the order to his gunner, who more than willingly obliged his orders.

The sound of the AH-99's 20mm cannon could be heard inside the cockpit as the gunner began to lay down suppressing fire on their forces.

"Hang on, got a runner here…" The pilot looked to his FLIR vision, a 'roman' legionary had managed to avoid a stream of 20mm from his gunner.

The pilot checked the gunner's camera, seeing the man was just at the edge of the gunner's area of fire. "Yeah, I see him, adjusting rotation…" He shifted his helicopter over to the right a little to adjust to hit the running man.

The 20mm stream of bullets slammed right through the man's leg, slicing it right off. "Ouch, it looked like it had to hurt…" The 'roman' was seen collapsing, his mouth open in a scream just as the 20mm hit his torso evaporating him into a fog of dust and mist as the bullets slammed into the ground around him.

"Good shots, good shots.." The pilot commented, adjusting the AH-99 further. Suddenly his warning system flared to life. "IMPACT IMMINENT, IMPACT IMMINENT!" The digitized voice yelled at him.

"What in the fu.." He cut off mid sentence, looking at his HUD's radar he saw an unknown object meters away slamming into the helicopter. His eyes widened upon realizing he was probably screwed. "BRACE! BRACE!" He yelled into his microphone.

The AH-99 shuddered violently as he was shoved off course. "PULL UP, PULL UP, PULL UP!" The automated voice yelled into his ears.

"SON OF A BITCH!" He yelled in response, he then began to radio the AFB. "Mayday mayday! This is Iskial-5! Our AH-99 was hit with an unknown object we are going down, I say again we are going down!"

His AH-99 continued to spin out of control, looking to the side he saw black smoke billowing out behind the helicopter as he spun out of control. "Iskial-5, this is Altis AFB ATC, we are tracking you on radar and drone feed. Stand by…" The person on the other end of the radio cut off as they tried to figure out what to do.

He gripped his joystick, trying to keep his AH-99 from spinning out into the ground. "Come on, keep afloat a little longer buddy…!" He spoke to the helicopter in a futile attempt to keep its 'machine spirit' from crashing.

"Iskial-5, try and divert away from the enemy position and attempt to return to friendly lines, local ground forces will be diverted to pick you up upon emergency landing." The ATC once more came over the radio.

"Better said than done.." He grumbled as he felt the helicopter lose even more control. "PULL UP, PULL UP, PULL U…" He slammed his fist into the automated system control, grunting. "Not, fucking, now!" He growled at the automated systems voice.

He managed to pull up, albeit just barely, over the rooftops. Managing to regain some minor control he tried to even out the flight path. Suddenly his gunner began screaming. "FUCKING SHIT! SHIT! ITS ONE OF THEIR MAGES, RIGHT THERE ON THE FUCKING ROOF!"

He turned his attention to his FLIR system, although glitching out with intermediate static he spotted the outline of someone in robes. "Ah fuck, shit! Isaac engages him, get him before he gets us man!" He felt the helicopter shift once more as he began losing control, he fiercely gripped the controls as he tried desperately to keep them level.

"Shit, that impact fucked up my guns, I can't fire! Ah hell, ah sweet jesus!" The helicopter began to spin once more.

"What is it now!?" The pilot exclaimed, sparks flying off in the compartment now. "HE IS CHARGING A FIREBALL...no..no..NO! IT'S ALREADY FUCKING CHARGED! BRACE BRACE!" The gunner, 'Isaac' screamed.

Looking out of the spinning helicopter compartment, he saw a rapidly closing in fireball, his eyes widened once more. "Oh sh.." The engine block of the helicopter was hit directly, the already battered helicopter exploded mid air, showering the street below in falling debris. All crew KIA.

Colonel Armstrong, several miles off the coast of Kavala watched the footage from the drone feed silently cursing. The Altis AFB ATC was heard speaking over the radio on battalion net. "Stand by, we have confirmed reports of a Blackfoot down, I say again, Blackfoot down…"

Armstrong shook his head while rubbing his eyes as the footage of the now burning AH-99 played on a digital screen setup aboard the USS Freedom's briefing room.

"Christ…" He grumbled to himself as the drone footage circled over the burning wreck of the AH-99, shortly after the footage zoomed out to show most of the city. The smoke trail going skyward from the helicopter crash was just one of many smoke plumes expanding over the city.

The drone footage showed the locations of the other forces currently in the city, marked with either a green or blue box to indicate which of the fighting forces belonged to their respective fighting forces, NATO and the RAAF marked as blue while the positions still occupied by the retreating 'romans' marked as red.

Kavala was slowly coming once more under the joint NATO-RAAF control again, but casualties were slowly mounting up. But, Armstrong thought to himself grimley, the 111th was making good time and really smashing apart the enemies morale. They would certainly have the city recaptured in a matter of hours by the way progress was being made now.

For now, the Colonel lit a cigarette, illuminating his grizzled face in the darkened room of the Aircraft carrier command center, content to listen to comms traffic and give orders when needed too.

((Yeah, this was a not long chapter coming, and honestly very short. I'm not too proud of it but at the same time I can't find any drive to add more to it. I unfortunately am coming down with the horrid case of writer's block and I venimently wish I could break out of it. I will return the POV to the Altians next chapter for the 'thrilling' conclusion, Until then, Medical Idiot 1-1 out, hopefully not for the last time in a while.))


End file.
